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LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


Purchased  by  the 

Mrs.  Robert  Lenox  Kennedy  Church  History  Fund. 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/lutheranchurchinOOwent 


TRINITY  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK 

Built  in  1729.  Mainly  by  the  efforts  of  the  Pennsylvania  Pastor,  Rev. 
Daniel  Falckner  and  dedicated  by  him  and  Dominie  Berkenmeyer  in  June, 
1729.  This  was  the  congregation  to  which  Justus  Falckner  had  come  from 
Pennsylvania.  To  this  church  Henry  Melchior  Muhlenberg  was  called  in 
1751.  Across  Rector  Street  were  the  grounds  in  which  stood  Trinity 
Episcopal  Church,  then  the  only  Episcopal  Church  in  New  York. 


The  Lutheran  Church  in 
American  History^rop 

By  \  :  ■ 

s/' 

ABDEL  ROSS  WENTZ,  Ph.D.,  D.D. 

Professor  of  Church  History  in  the  Gettysburg 
Theological  Seminary 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 

By 


HENRY  EYSTER  JACOBS,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

President  of  the  Lutheran  Theological  Seminary 
at  Mt.  Airy,  Philadelphia 


PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 

THE  UNITED  LUTHERAN  PUBLICATION  HOUSE 


Copyright  1923  by 

The  Board  of  Publication  of  The  United 
Lutheran  Church  in  America 


INTRODUCTION 

The  Lutheran  Church  of  America  is  no  exotic, 
transplanted  from  a  foreign  shore,  but  is  a  native 
of  this  continent.  It  is  not  the  Church  of  any 
one  of  the  numerous  lands,  whence  its  members 
have  originally  come,  and  to  which  it  is  indebted  for 
much  that  it  joyfully  appropriates,  but  it  is  as  inde¬ 
pendent  as  is  the  United  States  of  the  country  which 
has  given  to  it  its  institutions,  its  laws  and  its  litera¬ 
ture.  Its  position  is  not  that  of  a  naturalized  citizen, 
but  one  which  rests  upon  a  birthright.  Nor  is  it  a 
copy  of  what  may  be  found  in  the  ancient  home  of 
our  ancestors  across  the  Atlantic.  But  it  is  a  growth 
of  nearly  three  centuries,  in  which,  as  in  all  healthful 
life,  it  has  been  adjusted  to  its  environment.  If  it  had 
been  from  a  single  nation  that  all  its  people  had  come, 
it  might  be  otherwise;  but  Lutherans  in  America  are 
of  many  lands  and  many  tongues.  If  Germany  of  the 
formative  period  of  our  history,  had  been  an  Empire, 
with  an  imposing  ecclesiastical  establishment,  it  might 
have  held  our  ancestors  in  the  meshes  of  its  prestige; 
but  the  fact  that  so  many  Lutheran  people,  speaking  the 
same  language,  came  to  America  from  so  many  various 
political  centers,  each  with  its  own  ecclesiastical  regu¬ 
lations,  encouraged  among  their  children  the  freedom 
which  they  asserted. 

This  volume  presents  an  excellent  outline  of  the 
processes,  through  which  this  Church,  with  its  millions 
of  communicant  members,  has  come.  Nothing  was 


4 


INTRODUCTION 


farther  from  the  minds  of  the  colonists  of  the  pre¬ 
revolutionary  period,  than  to  establish  a  great  Ameri¬ 
can  Church.  If  this  is  true,  as  we  believe  it  to  be,  with 
respect  to  other  denominations,  it  is  especially  true  of 
Lutherans.  The  most  that  the  devout  Christian  immi¬ 
grant  could  pray  for,  was  that,  amidst  the  hardships 
of  pioneer  life,  he  and  his  family  should  be  provided 
with  the  Means  of  Grace.  The  most  the  earlier  pastors 
could  do  was  to  search  for  the  widely  scattered  sheep 
and  bring  them  together  for  occasional  services.  The 
idea  of  a  common  country,  embracing  all  the  colonies, 
was  far  distant,  and  so  the  widest  vision  with  respect 
to  ecclesiastical  prospects  scarcely  reached  farther 
than  the  boundaries  of  the  colony  in  which  the  observer 
lived.  No  missionary  superintendents  crossed  the 
ocean  to  survey  the  field  and  project  campaigns  of 
propagandism.  But  the  religious  life  of  the  people, 
quickened  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  was  sure,  in  God’s 
own  time  and  way,  to  find  expression.  Religion  can 
never  remain  a  purely  individual  matter,  nor  can  it 
be  confined  within  the  family  or  a  particular  congre¬ 
gation  or  the  circle  of  nearest  neighbors.  The  com¬ 
munity  sense  inevitably  is  awakened.  The  barrier  of 
a  diverse  language  served  for  a  time  to  protect  this 
sense  from  breaking  across  Church  lines.  When  the 
need  was  greatest  and  the  cry  for  those  who  could 
lead  was  sent  forth,  their  prayers  were  answered,  and 
those  endowed  with  the  gift  of  organization  came. 
Admire  as  we  must  the  far-seeing  plans  of  Muhlenberg, 
we  cannot  escape  the  conviction  that  he  and  his  asso¬ 
ciates  spoke  and  wrote,  not  as  mere  individuals,  but 


INTRODUCTION 


5 


as  representatives  of  the  awakening  life  among  those 
around  them.  Thus  through  all  time,  Christianity 
presses  its  way  onward,  through  darkness  to  light, 
from  the  bondage  of  the  letter  to  the  freedom  of  the 
Spirit,  from  confusion  and  doubt  into  clearness  and 
definiteness  of  conviction,  and  molds  for  itself  a 
Church  and  Church  institutions,  through  which  to 
work  upon  that  which  is  external  to  itself. 

This  volume  shows  also  how  the  development  of  the 
nation,  and  the  growth  of  the  organization  known  as 
The  Lutheran  Church  have  progressed  side  by  side. 
The  parallels  traced  are  not  mere  fortuitous  coinci¬ 
dences  ;  they  exhibit  Providential  leadings.  Church  and 
State  react  upon  each  other,  because  the  God  of  Nature 
and  the  God  of  Grace  are  one,  and  He  avails  Himself 
of  that  which  belongs  to  the  Kingdom  of  Nature  to 
work  out  the  purposes  of  the  Kingdom  of  Grace.  A 
Free  Church  was  the  ideal  of  the  Lutheran  Reformers 
and  their  Confessions;  but  under  a  monarchical  gov¬ 
ernment,  unless  such  only  in  name,  this  was  unattain¬ 
able.  The  germinal  principle  of  religious  liberty, 
which  the  Pilgrims  brought  to  New  England,  and 
which  they  failed  to  apply  with  entire  consistency, 
was  at  last  asserted  with  conscientious  fidelity  and 
widely  advertised  by  William  Penn  as  an  attraction 
for  emigration,  with  the  result  that  the  city  which 
he  founded  became  the  birthplace  of  a  great  free 
nation,  and  his  colony  on  the  Delaware  became  the 
nursery  of  the  Lutheran  Church  of  America. 

The  story  is  here  vividly  portrayed  as  to  how,  in 
response  to  the  call  of  this  apostle  of  civil  and  religious 


6 


INTRODUCTION 


freedom,  the  stream  of  migration  from  Lutheran 
lands,  previously  either  breaking  forth  in  intermittent 
gushes  or  flowing  feebly  and  in  a  narrow  channel, 
became  a  mighty  river,  bringing  tens,  if  not  hundreds, 
of  thousands  to  permanent  homes  in  a  fertile  district, 
that  soon  responded  to  their  industry  and  thrift,  where 
they  were  not  only  free,  but  were  encouraged  to  gather 
around  centers  for  the  hearing  of  God’s  Word.  Here, 
from  the  people  collected  in  dense  masses,  a  Church 
grew  which  adjusted  itself  in  much  simplicity  to  its 
primitive  surroundings,  but  gradually,  as  their  circum¬ 
stances  improved,  assumed  a  more  stable  form.  The 
new  congregations  thus  established  retained  many  of 
the  features  in  organization,  administration  and  wor¬ 
ship,  of  their  European  prototypes,  but,  by  the  cir¬ 
cumstances  of  their  origin  and  environment,  gained  a 
certain  measure  of  flexibility  that  is  its  own,  and  has 
influenced  the  succeeding  development  of  the  entire 
Church.  For,  in  occupying  the  territory  which  they 
settled,  they  were  not  left  alone  in  their  several  fields. 
Right  alongside  of  them  were  thousands  of  others, 
who  had  been  attracted  hither  by  the  same  guarantees 
of  religious  freedom.  That  little  corner  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  which  was  the  focus  of  this  movement,  was,  in 
variety  of  racial,  national  and  especially  of  religious 
distinctions  among  immigrants,  a  prophetic  mirror  in 
miniature  of  what  America,  in  subsequent  years,  was 
to  become.  Allusions  to  this  intermixture,  almost 
without  a  parallel,  are  frequent  among  contemporary 
writers.  It  was  a  regular  ‘‘melting-pot,”  where  the 
opposites  and  contradictories  of  the  Old  World  were 


INTRODUCTION 


7 


brought  into  close  contact.  Even  by  a  stubborn  ad¬ 
herence  to  their  native  tongue,  they  were  unable  to 
live  in  total  isolation  from  what  was  transpiring 
around  them.  Toleration  and  then  respect  they 
learned  for  many  separated  from  them  in  their  old 
homes  by  impassible  lines.  Genuinely  Christian  hearts 
cannot  be  indifferent  or  irresponsive  to  the  testimony 
of  truly  living  epistles  written  not  with  ink  but  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  that  come  to  their  notice.  They 
learn  that  often  it  is  just  as  true  that  he  that  is  not 
against  us  is  for  us  (Mark  9:40;  Luke  9:50)  as  the 
converse  that  he  that  is  not  with  us  is  against  us  (Matt. 
12:30;  Luke  11:23).  On  the  other  hand,  nothing 
gives  such  an  appreciation  of  the  value  of  what  is 
entrusted  to  us,  if  it  really  be  of  God,  as  to  stand  on 
the  defensive  and  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  which 
one  is  called  upon  to  witness.  The  security  of  the 
Church  seems  to  lie  in  the  raising  up  of  zealous,  sober- 
minded  teachers  who  can  both  commend  and  censure 
with  discrimination. 

To  many  thoughtful  minds  of  the  earlier  days,  the 
prospect  of  any  permanency  for  the  Lutheran  Church 
of  America  seemed  hopeless.  But  the  experience  of 
centuries  has  taught  both  its  right  to  exist  and  its 
powers  of  adaptation.  But  beyond  this,  it  proves  its 
special  call  and  supreme  responsibility.  Never  has 
it  been  needed  more  than  at  the  present  hour.  A  Free 
Lutheran  Church  in  a  Free  State  is  no  longer  an  ex¬ 
periment.  For  what  has  been  already  attained,  we 
offer  our  devout  thanksgiving ;  and  we  look  with  con¬ 
fidence  into  the  future,  knowing  that  the  same  grace 


8 


INTRODUCTION 


which  so  abundantly  blessed  our  Fathers,  will  enable 
coming  generations  to  read  the  lessons  of  the  present, 
as  we  cannot  read  them  today. 

Dr.  Wentz’s  reputation  as  a  careful  and  discrimi¬ 
nating  historical  scholar  and  teacher,  is  well  estab¬ 
lished,  and  needs  no  special  commendation  in  this 
place.  In  this  volume  we  have  a  very  readable  narra¬ 
tive  which  will  secure  wide  recognition  for  its  attrac¬ 
tive  form,  its  skilful  condensation  and  the  many  sug¬ 
gestive  and  stimulating  lessons  for  application  which 
its  pages  offer.  Henry  E.  Jacobs 


PREFACE 


In  presenting  such  a  wide  range  of  materials  in 
such  a  brief  compass  there  can  be  no  thought  of 
comprehensiveness.  The  only  possible  points  of 
importance  are  the  interpretation  of  events  and  the 
manner  of  presentation.  The  old  facts  do  not  change, 
but  many  of  them  admit  of  a  new  interpretation  in 
the  presence  of  new  facts  and  in  the  light  of  a  longer 
historical  perspective. 

By  his  method  of  presentation  in  this  volume  the 
writer  has  sought  to  avoid  the  danger  of  abstraction 
that  lurks  in  the  study  of  Church  History  and  that  so 
often  leads  to  a  false  detachment  of  the  life  and  work 
of  the  Church  from  the  social  and  political  environ¬ 
ment  in  which  it  grew  up.  There  is  a  reciprocal  rela¬ 
tion  between  nationality  and  religion,  between  a  man’s 
conduct  as  a  citizen  and  his  conduct  as  a  Churchman, 
between  the  political  history  of  a  country  and  the 
Church  History  of  that  country.  In  tracing  this  rela¬ 
tionship  with  reference  to  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
American  history  the  writer  has  tried  to  set  the  facts 
of  Lutheran  history  in  the  frame-work  of  general 
American  history. 

The  sole  purpose  has  been  to  present  a  readable  book 
that  will  help  the  elementary  student  of  our  Church’s 
history  to  interpret  the  main  direction  of  events,  par¬ 
ticularly  in  the  present  day. 

Abdel  Ross  Wentz 

Gettysburg  Theological  Seminary, 

October  4,  1922. 


9 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


Introduction  . 3-8 

Preface  . 9 

PART  ONE.  IN  COLONIAL  TIMES,  1625-1760. 

Growth  of  Local  Institutions 

Chapter  I.  General  Background . 17-25 

Chapter  II.  The  New  Netherlands  and 

New  York  . 26-33 

Chapter  III.  New  Sweden  . 34-40 

Chapter  IV.  Georgia  . 41-44 

Chapter  V.  Pennsylvania  . 45-50 

PART  TWO.  AT  THE  BIRTH  OF  THE  NATION, 
1740-1790.  Unity  of  Organization 

Chapter  VI.  The  Patriarch  . 53-65 

Chapter  VII.  Growth  and  Organization. ..  .66-70 

PART  THREE.  IN  THE  YOUTH  OF  THE  RE¬ 
PUBLIC,  1790-1830.  Cutting  European 
Ties 

Chapter  VIII.  General  Background  . 73-83 

Chapter  IX.  Expansion  . 84-94 

Chapter  X.  Problems  . 95-105 

Chapter  XI.  A  General  Organization. .  .106-114 

Chapter  XII.  A  Theological  Seminary. . .  .115-121 


12 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PART  FOUR.  IN  A  PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  DIS¬ 
CORD,  1830-1870.  Sectionalism  and  Sec¬ 
tarianism 


Chapter 

XIII. 

Chapter 

XIV. 

Chapter 

XV. 

Chapter 

XVI. 

Chapter 

XVII. 

General  Background . 125-135 

Organized  Benevolence  .  . .  .136-147 

Immigration  and  Confes¬ 
sional  Reaction . 148-165 

“American  Lutheranism”..  .166-178 

Disruption  and  Reconstruc¬ 
tion  . 179-199 


PART  FIVE.  IN  THE  DAYS  OF  BIG  BUSINESS, 
1870-1910.  Expansion  and  Enterprise 


Chapter 

XVIII. 

Chapter 

XIX. 

Chapter 

XX. 

Chapter 

XXI. 

Chapter 

XXII. 

Chapter 

XXIII. 

General  Background . 203-217 

Growth  in  Numbers  and 

Benevolence . 218-234 

The  Inner  Development  of 

the  Augustana  Synod. . 235-253 

The  Work  of  the  Missouri 

Synod  . 254-261 

Liturgical  Development  ...262-275 

Confessional  Conservation.  .276-291 


PART  SIX.  IN  AN  AGE  OF  LARGER  UNITS, 
1910 —  The  National  and  International 
View 


Chapter  XXIV.  General  Background . 295-304 

Chapter  XXV.  The  Norwegian  Lutheran 

Church  of  America  . . .  .305-311 

Chapter  XXVI.  The  United  Lutheran 

Church  in  America  ....312-325 

Chapter  XXVII.  The  Merging  of  District 

Synods  . 326-333 

Chapter  XXVIII.  The  National  Lutheran 

Council  . 334-343 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Trinity  Church,  New  York . Frontispiece 

Old  Swedes’  Church,  Wilmington . Opposite  33 

Henry  Melchior  Muhlenberg .  “  65 

Home  Missionaries  .  “  81 

S.  S.  Schmucker,  D.D .  “  113 

Lutheran  Theological  Seminary,  Gettysburg,  Pa.  “  129 

Rev.  C.  F.  W.  Walther  .  “  161 

Other  Leaders  .  “  177 

Charles  Porterfield  Krauth,  D.D.,  LL.D .  “  193 

Southern  Seminary,  Columbia,  South  Carolina.  .  “  209 

Concordia  Seminary,  St.  Louis,  Missouri .  “  209 

Augustana  College  and  Seminary,  Rock  Island, 

III .  “  241 

Foreign  Missionaries  .  “  257 

Lutheran  Theological  Seminary,  Philadelphia.  .  “  289 

Lutheran  Theological  Seminary,  St.  Paul,  Minn.  “  305 

Theodore  E.  Schmauk,  D.D.,  LL.D .  “  321 

Muhlenberg  Building,  Philadelphia .  “  337 


PART  I 

IN  COLONIAL  TIMES  (1625-1760) 


Growth  of  Local  Institutions 


The  Lutheran  Church  in  American 

History 


CHAPTER  I 
GENERAL  BACKGROUND 

The  story  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America  cannot 
be  understood  apart  from  the  story  of  American  his¬ 
tory  in  general.  The  general  currents  of  influence 
that  modify  the  political  and  social  life  of  the  people 
are  the  very  same  currents  that  help  to 
determine  the  religious  life  of  the  Church  History 


Parallels 
General  History 


people.  This  is  necessarily  so.  The 
member  of  the  church  is  at  the  same 
time  a  citizen  of  the  state,  and  the  impulses  and  ideals 
that  actuate  him  in  the  one  case  are  bound  to  influence 
his  conduct  in  the  other.  We  may  therefore  expect 
to  find  a  significant  parallel  between  the  political  his¬ 
tory  of  our  country  and  the  life  story  of  our  Church 
in  our  country. 

The  beginnings  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America 
were  slow,  diverse  and  disconnected.  But  so  were  the 
beginnings  of  the  American  colonies  themselves.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  almost  as  much  time  passed 
between  the  discovery  of  America  by 
Columbus  and  the  first  permanent 
settlement  at  Jamestown  as  has  passed  between  the 
establishment  of  the  Republic  and  the  present  hour. 
And  again,  from  the  first  colonial  settlement  to  the 

17 


Slow  Beginnings 


2 


18  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Diversity  of 
Institutions 


Declaration  of  Independence  was  a  longer  stretch  than 
from  Washington’s  inauguration  to  Harding’s. 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  population  was  very 

sparse  in  colonial  times.  In  1660  there  were  not  more 

than  60,000  people  in  the  colonies,  and 

Sparse  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolutionary 

Population 

War  over  a  century  later  there  were 
not  more  than  two  and  a  half  millions,  or  somewhat 
less  in  all  the  colonies  combined  than  the  Lutheran 
Church  alone  numbers  in  this  country  today. 

That  long  period  which  we  call  colonial  times  was 
therefore  a  period  of  slow  movement  and  localized 

institutions.  There  were  no  rapid 
currents  of  thought  or  practice  and 
no  wide-spread  organizations  either  in 
Church  or  State.  There  was  so  much  diversity  among 
the  colonies  that  the  history  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
in  this  period  was  largely  determined  by  the  place 
where  it  was  located  in  each  case. 

The  Lutheran  element  in  the  colonies  was  subject 
to  the  limitations  of  the  times.  It  will  help  us  there¬ 
fore  to  understand  the  position  of  these  earliest  groups 
of  Lutherans  in  this  country,  if  we  pause  to  consider 
some  of  the  political  and  moral  conditions  of  that  day. 

In  politics  it  was  a  period  of  diversity  and  isolation. 

The  voyages  of  discovery  and  explora¬ 
tion  with  which  American  history 
begins  had  determined  the  place  where 
the  different  European  nations  planted  their  institu¬ 
tions  in  America.  The  early  political  life  of  the  colo¬ 
nies  therefore  is  really  a  chapter  of  European  history 


Variety  in 
Politics 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


19 


and  presents  as  diverse  and  varied  a  picture  as  the 
political  history  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen¬ 
turies  among  the  European  nations.  The  variety  of 
manner  in  which  different  European  nationalities  or 
different  groups  of  the  same  nationality  settled 
America  resulted  in  isolated  colonies  or  groups  of  colo¬ 
nies,  each  characterized  by  its  own  sort  of  government 
and  its  own  political  problems. 

Throughout  this  period  there  was  very  little  inter¬ 
communication  among  the  colonies.  The  distances  that 
separated  the  colonial  capitals  were  immense,  amount¬ 
ing  to  thousands  of  miles  if  measured 
by  the  standards  of  today.  Means  of  *"ack  of  .  . 

Communication 

travel  were  very  slow  and  the  physical 
barriers  were  very  great.  Rivers,  mountains  and 
forests,  savage  beasts  and  still  more  savage  men,  were 
insurmountable  obstacles  to  a  common  life  among  the 
colonists.  Until  the  very  end  of  this  period  there  was 
no  sense  whatever  of  a  community  of  interest  and  of 
course  no  disposition  to  co-operate  in  anything. 

The  ties  that  bound  the  colonies  to  Europe  were 
much  stronger  than  any  that  bound  them  to  one 
another.  The  chief  highways  at  first  were  the  rivers. 
These  ran  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea,  and  roads 
from  north  to  south  were  lacking.  As 
a  rule,  therefore,  each  colony  found  it  Colonial 

,  ,  ,  .  ,  .  Isolation 

more  convenient  to  hold  communica¬ 
tion  with  the  mother  country  than  with  its  neighbor 
on  either  side.  Two  of  the  strongest  colonies,  it  is 
true,  Virginia  in  the  south  and  New  England  in  the 
north,  looked  to  the  same  mother  country  for  control 


20  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


and  direction.  But  then  the  difference  in  the  circum¬ 
stances  under  which  the  two  colonies  had  been  founded 
together  with  the  sharp  difference  in  climate  and  the 
consequent  difference  in  industry,  reinforced  by  the 
lack  of  intercourse,  produced  even  here  a  divergence 
in  politics  and  a  difference  in  type  of  character.  In  the 
north  there  was  a  clear  movement  towards  diffusion 
of  rights  and  privileges  among  all  citizens,  while  in 
the  south  the  distinct  political  trend  was  towards  the 
centralization  of  rights  and  privileges  in  the  hands 
of  a  few. 

In  New  England  the  democratic  spirit  was  fostered 
by  public  schools  and  the  printing  press,  while  in  the 
South  the  aristocratic  spirit  was  cultivated  by  private 

schools  and  limited  facilities  for  read- 
Democracy  and  jn  New  England  industry  was 

varied  and  labor  free  with  the  conse¬ 
quence  that  wealth  was  distributed  and  movement 
easy.  In  the  South  industry  was  simple  and  labor 
forced  with  the  consequence  that  wealth  was  concen¬ 
trated  and  democracy  stunted. 

In  each  case  the  middle  group  of  colonies,  destined 

to  be  the  home  of  the  vast  majority  of 
Lutherans  throughout  this  period, 
showed  a  partial  blending  of  the  two 
diverse  tendencies. 

This  same  diversity  characterized  the  social  and 
religious  life  of  colonial  times.  The  denominationalism 
that  has  always  been  such  a  prominent  characteristic 
of  American  religious  life  has  its  roots  in  the  very 
beginnings  of  the  colonial  period.  From  the  earliest 


A  Blending 
of  Both 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


21 


times  the  Church  Catholic  in  our  country  has  never 
been  anything  more  than  the  communion  of  saints  and 
not  even  remotely  their  corporation.  The  earliest 
Church  History  of  America  is  in  reality  a  chapter  from 
European  Church  History.  As  the  colonization  of 
America  represented  many  races  of  Europe  so  the 
religious  life  of  the  American  colonies 
reproduced  the  different  types  of  A  c°py  of 

European  Christianity.  Of  course  the  Religious  Life 
external  equipment  of  the  churches 
and  their  ministers  was  much  more  limited  than  in 
Europe.  But  the  same  religious  life  and  customs  that 
prevailed  in  the  mother  countries  were  practiced  in 
the  colonies,  the  same  bigotry  and  superstitions,  the 
same  intolerance  and  barbarities,  the  same  intemper¬ 
ance  and  unchastity,  the  same  worldliness  and  skepti¬ 
cism  on  the  part  of  most  people,  the  same  other- world¬ 
liness  and  gloom  on  the  part  of  the  devout.  The 
colonies  responded  to  the  same  high  impulses  that 
touched  European  Christianity  from  time  to  time,  and 
felt  all  the  waves  of  religious  revival  and  decline  that 
swept  over  the  home  lands.  There  was  perhaps  a 
more  general  diffusion  of  the  spirit  of  missions  than 
in  Europe,  owing  to  the  nearness  of  the  heathen 
Indians,  but  lack  of  organization  prevented  any  ag¬ 
gressive  or  charitable  enterprise. 

There  was  much  diversity  among  the 
colonies  in  the  details  of  their  religious  Dlversity  in 
life  and  practice.  This  was  due  to  Rellglon 
the  religious  differences  among  the  countries  from 
which  the  colonists  came  and  especially  to  the 


22  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


differences  in  the  circumstances  under  which  they 
came.  It  accounts  in  large  part  for  the  disconnected 
character  of  Lutheran  history  in  this  period. 


The  one  feature  that  was  common  to  the  religious 
life  of  nearly  all  the  colonies  was  State-Churchism. 
Many  of  the  colonists  had  crossed  the  ocean  to  escape 

the  intolerance  of  the  Old  World.  But 
State'  so  completely  were  they  saturated  with 

European  modes  of  thought  that  after 
they  reached  American  shores  they  set  up  their  estab¬ 
lished  Churches  and  practiced  much  the  same  sort  of 
intolerance  as  that  from  which  they  had  themselves 
sought  asylum. 


Religious  Taxes 


Taxes  were  levied  to  purchase  church  property,  to 
erect  church  buildings,  and  to  support  the  pastors  of 
the  ruling  church.  Statutes  were  enacted  to  suppress 
vice  and  punish  blasphemy,  to  promote  the  observance 

of  the  Lord’s  Day,  and  to  compel 
regular  attendance  on  divine  services. 
Strict  laws  were  passed  to  prevent  heresy  and  to  quell 
dissent  in  any  form.  In  almost  every  sphere  of  life 
laws  were  made  to  regulate  the  citizen’s  personal  and 
private  conduct  even  where  it  did  not  affect  other 
people.  The  civil  code  was  very  severe  in  its  penalties. 

The  general  result  was  a  serious  cur¬ 
tailment  of  the  free  spiritual  influence 
of  the  churches  and  a  decided  limitation  on  the  exercise 
of  free  religious  opinion  and  practice.  It  was  this 
unholy  alliance  between  the  State  and  some  particular 
Church,  in  most  cases  the  Church  of  England,  that 


Blue  Laws 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


23 


dominated  the  religious  landscape  down  to  the  Revolu¬ 
tion.  But  the  American  colonies  of  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries  were  simply  sharing  the  com¬ 
mon  heritage  of  the  times  when  they  regarded  the  civil 
power  and  patronage  to  be  a  necessity  to  religion. 


Only  Pennsylvania  and  Rhode  Island  were  exceptions. 
Under  the  charter  of  Rhode  Island  no  person  was  in 
any  way  disabled  for  any  religious  opinion  whatever. 
Under  the  proprietary  government  of 
Pennsylvania  liberty  of  conscience  and 
worship  and  eligibility  to  public  office 
was  granted  to  all  persons  professing 
to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ.  To  Rhode 
Island  Lutherans  never  came.  To  Pennsylvania  they 
came  in  large  numbers  and  were  cordially  welcomed. 
But  apart  from  Pennsylvania  the  Lutheran  organiza¬ 
tions  throughout  colonial  times,  if  they  were  not  per¬ 
secuted,  existed  by  tolerance  rather  than  by  sovereign 
and  independent  right. 


Pennsylvania 
and  Rhode 
Island 
Exceptions 


In  the  religious  trend  of  the  period  as  well  as  the 
political  we  observe  a  difference  between  New  England 
and  the  South.  Most  of  the  English  colonists  who 
came  to  New  England  had  fled  from  the  oppressions 
of  the  Church  of  England  at  home. 

They  organized  their  churches  in  New  Ne^  Ensland 
England  in  vital  connection  with  the  Puntamsm 
local  power,  it  is  true,  but  on  the  principle  of  the 
equality  of  the  individual  members  and  in  complete 
independence  of  English  authority.  The  Puritan 
Church  organization  was  thoroughly  democratic.  The 


24  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


local  congregation  was  sovereign.  The  centralization 
of  religious  authority  in  Bishop  or  Pope  was  antago¬ 
nistic  to  everything  Puritan.  There  was  a  decided 
tendency,  therefore,  towards  toleration  and  diffusion 
of  religious  rights. 


Southern 

Anglicanism 


On  the  other  hand,  the  Englishmen  who  settled  in 
the  Southern  States  were  High  Churchmen.  They 
admired  the  episcopate.  They  sought  the  aid  of  the 

English  government  in  establishing 
their  churches  on  a  monarchical  basis, 
and  thus  perpetuated  the  Church  of 
England  on  American  soil.  Even  when  dissenters  were 
allowed  to  organize  churches  south  of  Pennsylvania 
they  labored  under  the  disadvantage  of  competing 
with  a  Church  that  was  either  directly  supported  or 
else  strongly  encouraged  by  the  colonial  government. 

Of  the  Middle  Colonies,  New  York  was  at  first  a 

Dutch  colony,  but  later  as  an  English  colony  partook 

of  the  religious  characteristics  of  New  England.  New 

Jersey  and  Delaware  were  much  influenced  by  their 

proximity  to  the  southern  group  of  colonies  and  always 

leaned  towards  the  concentration  of 

Pennsylvania  religious  authority.  Pennsylvania, 

^e  Chief  Home  thanks  to  the  broad  policy  of  its 
of  Lutheranism  ^ 

founder  and  other  conditions  favoring 
diversity,  attracted  such  a  variety  of  sects  and  religion¬ 
ists  that  no  central  religious  organization  of  the  people 
would  have  been  possible.  Colonial  Pennsylvania 
epitomizes  that  unity  in  diversity  that  was  afterwards 
to  become  the  law  of  the  whole  land.  It  was  to  be  ex- 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


25 


pected,  therefore,  that  the  stream  of  Lutheran  exiles 
from  the  State  Churches  of  Europe  would  direct  its 
course  to  this  inviting  land  and  make  it  the  chief  home 
of  American  Lutheranism  throughout  colonial  times. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  NEW  NETHERLANDS  AND  NEW  YORK 

The  earliest  Lutheran  settlers  in  America  came  to 
the  Dutch  colony  of  the  New  Netherlands.  This  Dutch 
settlement  on  the  Hudson  was  one  of  the  two  colonies 
that  until  1664  prevented  England  from  having  a  con¬ 


tinuous  colonial  empire  from  the 
Penobscot  to  the  Savannah.  It  was 
begun  by  the  Dutch  West  India  Com- 


The  Dutch 
Colony 


pany.  This  company  settled  forty  families  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Albany  (then  called  Fort  Orange)  in 
1623  and  two  hundred  persons  on  Manhattan  Island 
(then  called  New  Amsterdam)  in  1625.  The  earliest 
settlers  came  for  commercial  purposes  and  in  this  re¬ 
spect  differed  from  the  earliest  settlers  of  most  of  the 
other  colonies. 

The  established  Church  in  Holland  was  the  Re¬ 
formed.  Under  the  administration  of  the  Dutch  West 
India  Company  that  Church  was  made  the  official 
religious  organization  in  the  settlements  on  the  Hud¬ 
son.  But  there  were  large  numbers  of  Lutherans  in 
Holland.  Amsterdam  alone  contained  30,000  Luth¬ 
erans,  among  them  the  wealthiest  and  most  enterpris¬ 
ing  people  in  the  city.  These  Lutherans  co-operated 


with  their  countrymen  in  the  commer¬ 
cial  enterprise  in  America,  and  some 
of  them  came  to  the  New  Netherlands 


Lutherans 

Persecuted 


with  the  other  settlers  in  1623  and  1625.  But  the 

26 


THE  NEW  NETHERLANDS  AND  NEW  YORK 


27 


policy  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  unlike  the 
policy  of  the  Dutch  Government  itself,  excluded  all 
other  religions  than  the  Reformed.  The  result  was 
that  the  Lutheran  settlers  on  the  Hudson  found  them¬ 
selves  hindered  in  the  exercise  of  their  faith.  They 
not  only  had  to  attend  the  services  of  their  Reformed 
friends  but  they  were  obliged  to  have  their  children 
baptized  and  instructed  by  Reformed  pastors  and  in 
the  Reformed  faith.  Efforts  to  cultivate  their  Luth¬ 
eran  faith  in  private  services  were  met  with  severe 
measures  of  repression  by  Governor  Stuyvesant. 

But  by  the  middle  of  the  century  the  number  of 
Lutherans  in  the  colony  had  grown  to  such  an  extent 
and  their  sense  of  religious  oppression  had  become  so 
deep  that  they  resolved  to  attempt  an  independent 
organization.  They  proceeded  in  orderly  fashion.  They 
first  appealed  to  the  Lutheran  consistory  of  Amster¬ 
dam  to  intercede  for  them  with  the  directors  of  the 
West  India  Company.  Nothing  was 
done.  Their  request  was  renewed  in  Lutheran 

1653,  with  the  petition  that  a  Lutheran  Deported 
pastor  be  sent  them.  Four  years  later 
the  pastor  arrived.  His  name  was  John  Ernst  Goet- 
wasser  and  he  had  been  sent  by  the  Lutheran  churches 
of  Amsterdam.  But  the  joy  of  the  Lutherans  was  bit¬ 
terness  to  the  Reformed.  The  Reformed  pastors  set 
up  a  vigorous  protest  against  Goetwasser’s  admission. 
He  was  prohibited  from  holding  services  or  perform¬ 
ing  ministerial  acts,  but  nearly  two  years  elapsed  be¬ 
fore  they  succeeded  in  having  him  deported.  It  must 


28  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


be  remembered  that  this  was  a  day  of  religious  wars 
in  Europe,  and  religious  intolerance  was  the  spirit  of 
the  times. 

Governor  Stuyvesant  continued  to  fulminate  against 

the  preaching  of  any  other  than  the  Reformed  religion, 

but  in  spite  of  his  proclamations  the 

The  Lutherans  Lutherans  in  1662  imported  a  student, 
Persist 

Abelius  Zetskoorn,  to  be  their  min¬ 
ister.  He  was  forthwith  transported  to  a  charge  on 
the  Delaware. 


Relief  for  the  Lutherans  only  came  with  the  sur¬ 
render  of  the  Dutch  settlements  to  the  English  in 
1664.  New  Amsterdam  took  the  name  of  New  York. 

The  English  governor  cheerfully 
granted  the  petition  of  the  Lutherans 
for  permission  to  call  their  own  pastor. 
But  another  five  years  elapsed  before  their  minister 
arrived.  Two  calls  were  declined.  The  third  was 
accepted  and  brought  Pastor  Jacob  Fabritius. 


Relief  Under 
the  English 


Meanwhile  a  Lutheran  congregation  had  been  organ¬ 
ized  at  Albany.  Fabritius  served  both  of  these  Dutch 
congregations.  But  he  was  a  great  disappointment 
to  his  long-suffering  people.  More  than  a  generation 
they  had  maintained  their  Lutheran  faith  and  longed 

for  a  Lutheran  pastor.  And  now  their 

A  Disappointing  firs{.  regular  minister  proved  so 
Pastor 

despotic  and  irascible  that  his  public 
and  private  life  disgraced  his  congregations.  With 
increasing  difficulty  he  administered  his  work,  and  in 
less  than  two  years  (1671)  he  was  compelled  to  resign 


THE  NEW  NETHERLANDS  AND  NEW  YORK 


29 


A  Faithful 
Minister 


first  in  Albany  and  then  in  New  York.  He  afterwards 
took  up  work  among  the  Swedish  Lutherans  on  the 
Delaware  and  left  a  highly  honorable  record  as  a 
devoted  pastor. 

As  successor  to  Fabritius  the  consistory  at  Amster¬ 
dam  sent  over  Bernhard  Arensius.  He  is  described 
as  “a  gentle  personage  and  of  very  agreeable  be¬ 
havior.”  Quietly  and  faithfully  he  administered  the 
affairs  of  the  two  congregations  for 
twenty  years  (1671-1691)  spending 
his  summers  in  New  York  and  his 
winters  in  Albany.  In  1684  the  second  church  building 
was  erected.  The  first  had  been  erected  in  1671  on  the 
present  site  of  Battery  Park,  but  had  been  demolished 
in  1673,  when  the  Dutch  returned  to  power  for  a 
year,  because  it  stood  beyond  the  fortifications  of  the 
city  and  interfered  with  its  defence.  The  congregation 
was  duly  compensated  for  its  loss  and  under  the  super¬ 
intendence  of  Arensius  built  a  church  within  the  city 
walls. 

Those  were  trying  times  in  which  Arensius  conducted 
his  ministry.  The  war  between  Holland  and  England 
caused  changes  of  government  in  the  colony.  The 
Roman  Catholic  aggressiveness  of  the  English  King, 
James  II,  and  his  overthrow  by  the 
Protestant  William  of  Orange,  kept  Trymg  Times 
the  colonists  in  constant  excitement.  But  the  Lutheran 
congregations  flourished,  and  when  Arensius  died  in 
1691  the  congregation  in  New  York  consisted  of  some 
thirty  families  while  that  in  Albany  numbered  twelve 
families. 


30  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


For  the  rest  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  pastorate 
was  vacant.  The  Lutheran  authorities  at  Amsterdam 
insisted  that  the  Lutherans  of  New  York  must  now 
assume  the  responsibility  for  their  own  pastor.  In 


1701  they  invited  Andrew  Rudman  to 
become  their  pastor.  He  had  been 
laboring  among  the  Swedes  on  the 


Rudman’s 
Short  Pastorate 


Delaware.  He  accepted  the  call  and  proved  to  be  a 
man  of  constructive  talents.  But  on  account  of  the 
climate  he  remained  in  New  York  only  a  little  more 
than  a  year.  In  November,  1703,  he  returned  to  Penn¬ 
sylvania  and  helped  to  ordain  Justus  Falckner  to  be 
his  successor  in  New  York. 

Meanwhile  a  change  had  crept  over  the  Lutheran 
parish  in  New  York.  From  the  beginning  it  had  been 
a  cosmopolitan  congregation.  The  language  was  Dutch, 
and  a  number  of  the  families  were  Dutch,  but  the 

majority  of  the  members  were  Danish, 
Dutch  Declines  Swedish,  Norwegian  and  German. 


and  German 
Flourishes 


Under  English  rule  the  German  ele¬ 
ment  increased  while  the  Dutch  ele¬ 


ment  declined  in  relative  strength.  With  the  turn  of 
the  century  German  immigration  set  in  strongly  and 
Falckner  was  obliged  to  conduct  services  in  German 
as  well  as  Dutch.  For  several  years  while  the  German 
settlements  along  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk  had  no 
pastor  of  their  own,  he  took  full  charge  of  their  con¬ 
gregations  also. 

It  was  a  large  parish  of  which  Falckner  had  the 
care.  It  extended  some  two  hundred  miles,  from 
Albany  to  Long  Island,  and  included  settlements  on 


THE  NEW  NETHERLANDS  AND  NEW  YORK 


31 


both  sides  of  the  Hudson  and  in  New  Jersey.  For  just 
twenty  years  Pastor  Falckner  cultivated  this  field.  He 
was  a  man  of  thorough  education,  deep  spirituality, 
and  great  vigor.  His  entries  in  his 
parish  records  are  accompanied  with  Falckner’s 

soulful  prayers  for  the  spiritual  wel-  Ministry 
fare  of  those  to  whom  he  had  min¬ 
istered.  Like  his  predecessors,  he  spent  the  summers 
in  and  about  New  York,  the  winters  in  and  about 
Albany.  He  appointed  “Readers”  to  conduct  the  ser¬ 
vices  while  he  was  absent  in  another  part  of  the  parish. 
In  addition  to  his  abundant  labors  as  pastor  he  found 
time  to  write  and  publish  a  handbook  of  Christian  doc¬ 
trine  in  questions  and  answers.  Upon  his  death  in 
1723  his  elder  brother,  Daniel,  who  had  become  pastor 
of  the  Dutch  congregations  in  New  Jersey,  for  a  while 
supplied  both  the  Dutch  and  the  German  churches 
along  the  Hudson. 

The  German  Lutheran  congregations  in  the  colony 
of  New  York  were  made  up  of  refugees  from  the 
Palatinate  of  the  Rhine.  The  Palatinate  had  been 
ravaged  by  almost  a  century  of  unintermittent  war. 
Finally,  in  order  to  establish  a  vast  desert  between  the 
German  and  French  borders,  Louis  XIV  had  ordered 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Palatinate,  numbering  half 
a  million,  to  leave  within  three  days. 

Many  of  the  fugitives  found  temporary 
refuge  in  England,  and  there  Queen 
Anne  arranged  for  their  transporta¬ 
tion  to  the  American  colonies.  In  1709 
Rev.  Joshua  Kocherthal  and  a  Lutheran  congregation 


The  Palatines 
on  the  Hudson 
and  the 
Schoharie 


32  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


of  sixty-one  people  settled  Newburgh  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  Hudson.  The  next  year  three  thousand  more 
Palatines  arrived  in  New  York  and  were  settled  a 
hundred  miles  up  the  Hudson  at  the  foot  of  the  Cats¬ 
kills.  These  settlers  suffered  terribly  from  hunger 
and  cold  and  from  the  avarice  of  governors.  Some 
of  them  made  their  way  westward  into  the  Schoharie 
Valley.  Later  immigrants  settled  all  along  the  Hudson. 
In  all  these  German  parishes  Kocherthal  was  the 
pastor.  Unceasingly  he  ministered  to  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  welfare  of  his  scattered  flock  until  his  death 
in  1719.  Then  for  several  years  these  congregations 
were  added  to  the  Dutch  charge  of  Justus  Falckner. 


Berkenmeyer 


Falckner’s  successor  was  William  Christopher  Ber¬ 
kenmeyer.  The  Lutheran  Consistory  of  Amsterdam 
extended  him  the  call  of  the  Dutch  congregations  in 
New  York  and  Albany.  He  was  then  a  theological 

student  in  Hamburg.  After  consider¬ 
able  hesitation  he  accepted  the  call, 
was  ordained  in  Amsterdam  and  reached  New  York 
in  1725.  He  brought  with  him  a  library  for  the  con¬ 
gregation  and  funds  for  a  new  church  building.  These 
had  been  contributed  by  friends  in  Germany,  Denmark 
and  London.  Four  years  later  the  new  Trinity  Church 
was  dedicated  in  New  York.  Berkenmeyer  had  the 
organizing  talent  of  the  North  Germans.  Seeing  that 
the  parish  which  he  had  inherited  from  Falckner  was 
too  large  for  one  man  to  cultivate  it  successfully,  he 
sent  to  Germany  for  another  minister,  resigned  at 
New  York,  and  took  charge  of  the  northern  and  more 
promising  part  of  the  field,  making  his  home  at  Athens 


OLD  SWEDES’  CHURCH,  WILMINGTON 


THE  NEW  NETHERLANDS  AND  NEW  YORK 


33 


Division  in 
New  York 


(then  Loonenburg).  The  southern  part  of  the  field 
was  placed  in  charge  of  Michael  Christian  Knoll,  a 
native  of  Holstein,  who  had  been  ordained  by  the 
Lutheran  pastors  of  London. 

Knoll  spent  eighteen  years  of  faithful  labor  in  New 
York  under  difficult  circumstances.  He  was  obliged 
to  preach  in  Dutch  to  a  congregation  that  had  become 
predominantly  German.  The  inevitable  “split”  came 
in  1750.  Ghrist  Church  was  organized  by  some  of  the 
Germans  under  Pastor  J.  F.  Reis. 

Knoll,  worn  out  with  the  conflict,  re¬ 
signed  from  Trinity  and  went  to 
Athens  to  succeed  Berkenmeyer,  who  had  died  in 
1751.  But  most  of  the  Germans  did  not  follow  Reis, 
and  so  a  situation  arose  among  the  Lutherans  of  New 
York  that  called  for  the  steadying  hand  of  a  Muhlen¬ 
berg. 

Berkenmeyer  wTas  the  most  influential  spirit  among 
the  Lutherans  of  colonial  New  York.  He  was  a  man 
of  impressive  personality,  thorough  culture,  and  strict 
Lutheran  convictions.  His  ministry  continued  eight 
years  after  that  of  Muhlenberg  began  in  Pennsylvania. 
But  Berkenmeyer  and  his  North  Ger¬ 
man  circle  of  ministers  belonged  to  a  Berkenmeyer 

different  school  from  Muhlenberg  and  and  Muhlenberg 
his  Halle  group  of  fellow-laborers.  Berkenmeyer  sus¬ 
pected  Muhlenberg  of  pietism  and  laxity  of  practice, 
and  the  correspondence  between  the  two  sometimes 
savored  of  theological  controversy.  But  that  did  not 
prevent  Muhlenberg  from  coming  to  New  York  in  1751 
and  1752  and  saving  the  Lutheran  situation  there. 

3 


CHAPTER  III 


NEW  SWEDEN 


The  Swedes  on 
the  Delaware 


When  William  Penn  in  1682  sailed  up  the  Delaware 
River  and  selected  the  site  for  a  city  which  was  long 
afterwards  to  become  the  birthplace  of  American 

independence  he  chose  a  spot  where 
stood  a  Swedish  village  and  a  Lutheran 
church.  The  Swedes  had  been  there 
for  more  than  a  generation  before  Penn  arrived.  They 
were  part  of  that  Lutheran  settlement  which  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden,  and  hero  of  the  Thirty 
Years’  War,  had  planned  before  his  heroic  death  and 
his  prime  minister  had  effected  during  the  reign  of 
the  young  Queen  Christina. 

The  first  Swedish  Lutherans  arrived  in  1638.  They 
settled  on  the  present  site  of  Wilmington.  Under 
continued  immigration  from  Sweden  the  colony  grew 

and  spread  north  and  south  on  botli 
sides  of  the  Delaware.  The  country 
was  held  in  the  name  of  the  Swedish 
sovereign  and  the  colony  was  called 
Here  for  nearly  two  centuries  there 
was  a  regular  succession  of  devoted  Lutheran  pastors, 
thirty-five  in  total  number,  ministering  to  the  colonists 
in  at  least  six  Swedish  churches. 

With  the  second  expedition  in  1639  the  Rev.  Reorus 
Torkillus  came  to  the  colony.  He  was  the  first  regular 

34 


Swedish 

Lutheran 

Churches 

New  Sweden. 


NEW  SWEDEN 


35 


The  First 
Lutheran 
Minister 
in  America 


Lutheran  minister  in  America,  for 
this  was  eighteen  years  before  even 
Goetwasser  came  to  the  Dutch  Luth¬ 
erans  of  New  Amsterdam.  He  con¬ 
ducted  services  in  the  blockhouse  that 
had  been  erected  at  Wilmington.  But  in  1643  he  fell 
a  victim  to  a  dreadful  scourge  that  swept  over  the 
colony. 

A  few  months  before  Torkillus  died  a  new  governor, 
John  Printz,  had  come  to  the  colony  at  the  head  of  a 
new  expedition  of  immigrants.  He  brought  with  him 
another  minister,  whose  name  was  John  Campanius. 
He  also  brought  detailed  instructions 
to  do  missionary  work  among  the 
Indians,  to  maintain  worship  and  in¬ 
struction  according  to  the  Unaltered 
Augsburg  Confession  and  to  exercise 
tolerance  towards  the  “Reformed  religion.”  When 
Governor  Printz  changed  his  residence  to  Tinicum 
Island  in  the  Delaware  River,  nine  miles  southwest  of 
Philadelphia,  Campanius  accompanied  him  and  built 
there  the  first  Lutheran  church  ever  erected  in 
America.  That  was  in  1646.  There  were  now  about 
five  hundred  people  in  the  colony. 

The  Swedes  always  lived  peaceably  with  the  Indians 
and  laid  the  foundations  for  the  celebrated  Indian 
policy  of  William  Penn.  Campanius  carried  on  mis¬ 
sionary  work  among  them  and  trans¬ 
lated  Luther’s  Small  Catechism  into 
their  language.  This  was  the  first 
work  translated  into  an  Indian  dialect,  as  it  antedated 


The  First 
Lutheran 
Church 
in  America 


An  Indian 
Catechism 


36  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


the  appearance  of  John  Eliot’s  Indian  New  Testament 
by  at  least  thirteen  years.  The  Catechism,  however, 
was  not  published  for  nearly  fifty  years. 

Before  Campanius  returned  to  Sweden  in  1648  Rev. 
Lars  Lock  had  arrived  to  take  his  place.  For  twenty- 
two  years  Lock  served  the  churches  at  Tinicum  and 
Wilmington.  It  was  a  large  and  growing  parish  and 
there  were  many  discouragements.  The  neighboring 
Dutch  had  always  contested  the  rights  of  the  Swedes 


on  the  Delaware,  and  in  1655  when 
domestic  troubles  arose  in  Sweden, 
Governor  Stuyvesant  took  advantage 


Contact  With 
Sweden  Ceases 


of  the  situation  to  conquer  New  Sweden  and  raise  the 
Dutch  flag  over  the  Swedish  forts.  Thus  the  Swedish 
crown  lost  its  power  forever  in  the  New  World.  But 
fortunately  for  our  Lutheran  settlers,  the  Dutch  allowed 
them  to  keep  their  pastors  and  teachers.  However, 
many  of  the  Swedish  colonists,  among  them  the  most 
prominent  men,  returned  to  Sweden  after  the  Dutch 
conquest,  and  the  colony  was  much  weakened.  More¬ 
over,  all  touch  with  the  mother  country  was  broken  off, 
and  immigration  and  supplies  ceased. 

The  people  soon  began  to  suffer  for  the  want  of  spir¬ 
itual  care.  Pastor  Lock  began  in  1669  to  conduct  ser¬ 
vices  in  the  block  house  at  Wicaco,  north  of  the  Schuyl¬ 
kill,  now  in  the  southern  part  of  Philadelphia.  But  his 
matrimonial  unhappiness  and  his  increasing  feebleness 


sadly  disabled  him  in  the  service. 
After  1671  for  several  years  he  had 


Spiritual 

Destitution 


the  able  help  of  Jacob  Fabritius,  for¬ 
mer  pastor  of  the  Dutch  church  at  New  Amsterdam. 


NEW  SWEDEN 


37 


But  in  1677  Lock  gave  up  his  work  entirely,  five  years 
later  Fabritius  became  totally  blind,  and  the  spiritual 
destitution  of  New  Sweden  became  desperate.  For 
some  years  two  laymen  tried  to  hold  the  congregations 
together,  Andrew  Bengston  at  Tinicum  and  Charles 
Springer  at  Wilmington,  conducting  services  and  read¬ 
ing  sermons.  But  the  parish  continued  to  disintegrate. 

All  efforts  to  secure  a  pastor  through  the  Dutch 
either  from  Amsterdam  or  New  Amsterdam  proved 
unavailing.  Appeals  to  Sweden  went  unanswered, 
for  the  settlements  on  the  Delaware  were  no 
longer  a  colony  of  Sweden.  Dutch  rule  had 
been  supplanted  in  1664  by  English  rule,  but 
petitions  to  the  Lutheran  consistory  of  London  brought 
no  response.  The  colony  had  been  included  in  Penn's 
grant  in  1681,  but  the  great  Quaker,  though  very 
friendly  to  the  Swedes,  could  not  help  their  spiritual 
condition.  In  His  own  way  God  provided  for  His 
people.  Andrew  Printz,  a  nephew  of 
the  former  governor,  on  his  travels  to  God  pr°vldes 
America  in  1690  happened  to  learn  F°r  HlS  People 
about  his  countrymen  on  the  Delaware.  He  visited 
them,  saw  their  great  spiritual  need,  and  on  his  return 
to  Sweden  contrived  to  relate  his  experience  to  King 
Charles  XL  The  King  was  deeply  interested  and  after 
an  interchange  of  letters  with  the  Swedes  in  America 
he  gave  orders  for  the  selection  of  ministers,  for  the 
publication  of  five  hundred  copies  of  Luther's  Catechism 
as  translated  into  the  language  of  the  Indians  by  Cam- 
panius,  and  for  a  large  number  of  Bibles  and  other 
books  desired  by  the  colonists. 


38  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


The  pastors  who  were  commissioned  for  service  in 
America  were  Andrew  Rudman,  Eric  Bjork  and  Jonas 
Aureen.  The  arrival  of  these  ministers  among  the 

Swedes  on  the  Delaware  in  June,  1697, 
New  Pastors  marked  the  advent  of  a  new  era  in 
*  the  spiritual  history  of  New  Sweden. 

New  Era  x  17 

Rudman  took  charge  of  Wicaco  and 
Tinicum.  Bjork  became  pastor  at  Wilmington;  while 
Aureen  ministered  first  at  Elk  River  in  Maryland  and 
later  among  the  people  east  of  the  Delaware  in  New 
Jersey. 

Soon  the  congregations  began  to  build  new  churches. 
Holy  Trinity  at  Wilmington  (now  known  as  “Old 
Swedes  Church,”  and  still  standing)  was  dedicated 

June  4,  1699.  Gloria  Dei  Church  in 
Philadelphia,  an  interesting  landmark 
to  this  day,  was  dedicated  just  one  year  later.  Both 
of  these  buildings  are  today  in  the  possession  of 
Episcopalians. 

Under  the  faithful  ministry  of  these  new  pastors  the 
Swedish  settlements  took  on  a  new  lease  of  life.  There¬ 
after  to  the  end  of  the  colonial  period,  there  was  a  con¬ 
tinuous  stream  of  Lutheran  ministers  coming  into  the 
colony  from  Sweden.  Some  of  these  were  men  of  high 
literary  attainments.  In  1703  when  Rudman  returned 

from  his  brief  pastorate  among  the 
Spiritual  Dutch 

in  New  York,  he  together  with 
Growth  Bjork  and  Andrew  Sandel  who  had 

arrived  from  Sweden  the  year  before,  ordained  Justus 
Falckner,  the  German,  to  labor  among  the  Dutch  and 
German  churches  in  New  York.  But  there  was  little 


New  Churches 


NEW  SWEDEN 


39 


Leading 

Ministers 


sense  of  common  interest  between  the  Lutherans  on 
the  Delaware  and  those  on  the  Hudson,  and  from  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  Swedish  Luth¬ 
erans  began  to  cultivate  those  intimate  relations  with 
the  neighboring  Episcopalians  that  were  eventually  to 
result  in  the  loss  of  their  Lutheran  identity. 

We  can  mention  only  a  few  of  the  most  influential 
among  the  successors  of  Rudman  and  Bjork.  There 
was  John  Dylander,  pastor  at  Wicaco  from  1737  to 
1741.  He  completely  identified  himself  with  the 
Americans  by  marrying  a  daughter  of  a  Swedish- 
American.  He  ministered  to  the  English  and  the 
Germans  as  well  as  the  Swedes,  and  enjoyed  a  wide 
reputation  as  an  eloquent  preacher. 

Israel  Acrelius  came  in  1749  and  was 
pastor  at  Wilmington.  He  organized 
stated  conferences  of  the  Swedish  ministers  and  to  his 
very  complete  “History  of  New  Sweden”  we  are  in¬ 
debted  for  our  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  entire 
settlement.  He  returned  to  Sweden  in  1756.  But  the 
greatest  of  them  all  was  the  learned  and  saintly 
Charles  Magnus  Wrangel.  He  arrived  from  Sweden 
in  1759  and  soon  became  a  very  intimate  friend  and 
adviser  of  the  patriarch  Muhlenberg.  He  helped  Muh¬ 
lenberg  to  train  Americans  for  the  ministry.  In  his 
day  the  Swedish  congregations  numbered  about  three 
thousand  souls. 

%  Wrangel’s  recall  by  the  Swedish  authorities  in  1768 
was  deeply  resented  in  America,  and  the  Swedish 
congregations  on  the  Delaware  soon  began  to  clamor 
for  native  American  ministers  and  for  independence 


40  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


from  Sweden.  After  the  Revolutionary  War  the 
Swedish  archbishop  recalled  his  missionaries.  Thus  a 


number  of  Swedish  parishes  on  the 
Delaware  became  vacant.  The  younger 
element  called  for  services  in  Eng¬ 
lish,  and  as  no  Lutheran  ministers 


Transition  to 
the  Episcopal 
Church 


could  be  had,  either  for  Swedish  or  for  English  ser¬ 
vice,  the  congregations  made  amendments  to  their  con¬ 
stitutions  to  the  effect  that  their  pastors  might  be 
either  Lutheran  or  Episcopalian.  The  transition  to 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  was  gradually  com¬ 
pleted. 

That  the  Lutherans  of  New  Sweden  failed  to  endure 
is  to  be  explained  by  the  short-sighted  policy  of  the 
Swedish  authorities.  The  American  settlement  was 
treated  as  a  perpetual  missionary  outpost  of  the  State- 


Church  of  Sweden.  No  effort  was 
made  to  cultivate  a  sense  of  responsi¬ 
bility  and  self-support  on  the  part 
of  the  Americans.  The  pastors  sent 
were  taught  to  regard  themselves  as 


Mistaken 
Policy  of 
Swedish 


Authorities 


temporary  missionaries  in  waiting  for  better  positions 
at  home.  Laymen  rarely  assumed  any  responsibility. 
The  pastorates  were  mostly  brief  and  there  was  no 
thought  of  providing  for  a  native  American  ministry 
or  of  securing  the  future  independent  development  of 
the  Swedish  Lutheran  Church  in  America.  In  a  word, 
State-Churchism. 


CHAPTER  IV 
GEORGIA 


Another  Lutheran  settlement  in  colonial  times  was 
in  the  far  South.  It  began  a  full  century  later  than  the 
Lutheran  settlements  on  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware. 
But  it  has  made  a  distinct  contribution  to  the  Lutheran 
element  in  our  country. 

In  1734,  the  year  after  the  founding  of  Georgia,  a 

ship-load  of  Lutheran  refugees  sailed  into  the  mouth 

of  the  Savannah  and,  led  by  General  Oglethorpe, 

founded  the  town  of  Ebenezer,  twenty-five  miles  north 

of  Savannah.  They  were  called  Salzburgers  from  the 

province  in  Austria  from  which  they  had  been  expelled. 

For  nearly  two  centuries  these  faithful 

followers  of  Luther  had  succeeded  in  The, 

Salzburgers 

maintaining  their  evangelical  faith  in 
this  Catholic  land  in  spite  of  terrible  persecution  and 
hardships.  But  in  1731  the  archbishop  of  the  province 
had  trapped  twenty  thousand  of  them  into  recording 
their  names  and  faith,  and  then,  despite  protests  from 
the  Protestant  princes  of  Europe,  had  ruthlessly 
ordered  them  to  quit  the  country  at  once.  The  winter 
march  of  the  pious  Salzburg  exiles  and  the  joyous 
expression  of  their  faith  as  they  passed  through  the 
various  countries  of  Europe  constitute  a  romance  that 
has  invited  many  pens. 

Through  the  intercession  of  Dr.  Samuel  Urlsperger 
of  Augsburg  the  English  people  provided  for  the  trans¬ 
portation  of  fifty  families  of  the  Salzburgers  to  the 

41 


42  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


new  colony  that  General  Oglethorpe  was  founding  in 
America.  They  were  settled  under  most  liberal  con¬ 
ditions  from  the  government  and  granted  the  rights 
of  English  citizenship  and  full  freedom  of  worship. 

Urlsperger  and  Francke  had  provided 
Their  the  emigrants  with  pastors  in  the  per- 

Settlement  sons  two  Halle  instructors,  John 

in  America 

Martin  Boltzius  and  Israel  Christian 
Gronau.  These  were  sterling  young  men  of  genuine  de¬ 
votion,  and  under  their  wise  leadership  the  settlement 
prospered  and  grew.  The  year  after  the  first  settlers 
had  arrived  additional  ship-loads  of  Salzburgers  came 
and  increased  the  population  of  the  settlement  to 
twelve  hundred. 

Georgia  was  the  last  of  the  thirteen  colonies  to  be 
founded.  It  was  the  southern  frontier  of  the  English 
colonial  empire  in  America  and  was  established  as  a 

buffer  against  the  Spanish.  But  the 
Salzburgers  lived  in  peace  with  all 
their  neighbors  until  the  outbreak  of 
the  Revolutionary  War.  They  deprecated  slavery  and 
tried  to  Christianize  the  Indians.  They  cultivated  silk 
and  cotton,  made  indigo  and  wooden  ware,  and  ran 
mills.  Boltzius  was  a  wise  manager  and  the  little  colony 
reached  a  high  degree  of  material  prosperity. 

They  also  grew  in  faith  and  godliness.  They  erected 

churches  and  schools  and  an  orphan¬ 
age.  They  were  devoted  to  their 
faithful  pastors  and  needed  no  secular 
authorities  to  maintain  order  or  settle  disputes.  White- 
field  and  the  Wesleys,  who  visited  Ebenezer,  were 


Their 

Prosperity 


Their  Faith 
and  Works 


GEORGIA 


43 


deeply  impressed  with  the  faith  and  piety  of  these 
Lutherans. 

Ten  years  after  his  arrival  in  America  Gronau 

sickened  and  died.  Dr.  Urlsperger  sent  another  Halle 

man  to  take  his  place,  Hermann  Henry 

Lemke.  For  nineteen  years  he  labored  Re-enforcements 

Arrive 

in  the  closest  harmony  by  the  side  of 
Boltzius,  and  this  was  the  period  of  greatest  pros¬ 
perity  in  the  colony. 

Shortly  after  the  middle  of  the  century  the  settle¬ 
ment  was  augmented  by  three  transports  of  Germans 
from  Wurttemberg.  With  them  came  a  third  pastor, 
Christian  Rabenhorst.  Boltzius’  advancing  years  and 
the  increasing  population  of  the  colony  made  the  labors 
of  a  third  pastor  very  welcome. 


On  the  death  of  the  beloved  Boltzius  in  1765  and  his 
faithful  co-laborer,  Pastor  Lemke  in  1768,  troubles  be¬ 
gan  for  the  peace-loving  colony.  The  fathers  in  Ger¬ 
many  sent  Christopher  F.  Triebner  to  take  the  place 
of  the  departed  pastors.  He  was  impetuous  and  dicta¬ 
torial  and  he  soon  had  the  colony 
divided  into  factions  and  on  the  verge  Muhlenberg 

of  distraction.  Muhlenberg  was  sent  Y 2®lts  the 

Colony 

for  to  come  from  Pennsylvania  and 
settle  the  difficulty.  But  two  years  later  the  War  for 
Independence  broke  out  and  the  Ebenezer  colony  fell 
a  victim  to  its  frontier  location.  The  Salzburgers 
were  warmly  sympathetic  with  the  cause  of  independ¬ 
ence,  and  one  of  their  number,  John  Adam  Treutlen, 
became  the  first  governor  of  the  state  of  Georgia.  But 


44  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


good  pastor  Rabenhorst  died  broken-hearted  in  Decem¬ 
ber,  1776,  and  Triebner  proved  to  be  a  Tory. 

The  British  invaded  the  place,  destroyed  most  of  the 
property,  scattered  the  inhabitants  and  rendered  the 
town  desolate.  Jerusalem  Church,  built  in  1767,  is 


all  that  remains  today  to  indicate  the 
location  of  this  Lutheran  settlement  in 
colonial  times.  The  people  themselves 
were  scattered  to  other  settlements  of 
German  Lutherans  in  the  Carolinas 


The  Original 
Settlement 
Destroyed 
by  War 


and  Virginia.  There,  as  well  as  in  Georgia,  their  noble 
descendants  dwell  today  in  large  numbers. 


CHAPTER  V 
PENNSYLVANIA 

While  these  Lutheran  settlements  were  taking  place 
in  New  York  and  along  the  Hudson,  on  the  Delaware 
and  in  Georgia  and  the  South,  a  whole 

String  of  settlements,  of  somewhat  Pennsylvania 

.  ,  ,,  the  Center  of 

differing  nature,  was  gathering  m  Lutheranism 

Eastern  Pennsylvania.  They  soon 

made  Pennsylvania  the  center  of  the  Lutheran  popula¬ 
tion  in  all  the  colonies,  so  that  to  this  day  she  has  a 
larger  Lutheran  population  than  any  other  State  in 
the  Union. 

The  earliest  Lutheran  settlements  in  Pennsylvania 
were  the  result  of  adversities  in  Europe  and  advertise¬ 
ments  of  America.  The  settlers  came  from  Germany 
and  William  Penn  was  the  benevolent  instigator  of 
the  immigration.  Among  the  German 
pietists  and  sectarians  who  were  per-  The  Earliest 

secuted  by  the  State-Church  of  Ger-  Euther^ns 

in  the  State 

many  and  whom  Penn  induced  to  settle 
near  Philadelphia  in  1682  and  the  following  years  were 
some  of  Lutheran  views.  In  1694  an  erratic  preacher, 
Heinrich  Bernhard  Koester,  gathered  some  of  these 
Lutherans  together  and  held  the  first  German  Lutheran 
service  in  America.  But  this  did  not  result  in  estab¬ 
lishing  a  congregation. 

After  the  first  few  years  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  number  of  Lutherans  in  eastern  Pennsylvania  in- 

45 


46  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


creased  rapidly  and  resulted  in  the  organization  of 
Lutheran  congregations.  The  long  continued  ravages 

of  war  and  the  frequent  changes  of 
A  Strong  Tide  religion  in  the  Palatinate  together 


of  German 
Immigration 


with  the  favorable  reports  from  the 
Germans  already  in  America  caused  a 


strong  tide  of  German  immigration  to  set  in.  At  the 
same  time  the  report  of  the  unjust  treatment  accorded 
the  Germans  in  the  colony  of  New  York  reached  Ger¬ 
many  and  served  to  divert  the  main  stream  of  immi¬ 
gration  from  New  York  to  Pennsylvania.  The  result 
was  that  Philadelphia  was  almost  the  sole  port  of  entry 
for  Germans  during  the  rest  of  the  colonial  period. 

The  great  majority  of  these  Germans  were  Lutherans 
and  we  soon  hear  of  Lutheran  congregations  at  Falck- 
ner’s  Swamp  (New  Hanover,  Montgomery  County, 
1703),  at  Germantown  and  in  Philadelphia.  Later 

congregations  were  organized  at 
The  First  Providence  (the  Trappe),  at  Lancas- 


Lutheran 

Congregations 


ter,  at  Earltown  (New  Holland,  Lan¬ 
caster  County) ,  and  at  Tulpehocken 


(in  the  Lebanon  Valley).  The  Lutherans  at  Tulpe¬ 
hocken  came  from  New  York.  Dissatisfied  with  the 
continued  injustice  of  the  authorities  in  New  York 
they  left  their  homes  in  1723,  and,  under  the  guid¬ 
ance  of  friendly  Indians,  made  their  way  three 
hundred  miles  along  the  Susquehanna  and  finally 
settled  in  the  Lebanon  Valley.  Here  their  most  dis¬ 
tinguished  member  was  Conrad  Weiser,  the  famous 
Indian  agent  and  father-in-law  of  the  Patriarch 
Muhlenberg. 


PENNSYLVANIA 


47 


With  succeeding  waves  of  German  immigration  the 
Lutheran  settlers  of  Pennsylvania  pushed  farther  and 
farther  into  the  interior  dotting  the  colony  with 
“preaching  stations”  and  beckoning  spiritual  guides  to 
follow  them.  In  the  fourth  decade 
they  pressed  across  the  Susquehanna  Settling  the 

and  entered  the  valleys  that  lead  south¬ 
ward  to  Maryland  and  Virginia.  The  high  tide  of 
German  immigration  into  the  colony  came  between 
1735  and  1745,  so  that  by  the  middle  of  the  century 
there  were  at  least  forty  thousand  Lutherans  in 
Pennsylvania. 

From  the  general  circumstances  attending  their 
emigration  it  followed  that  these  Lutherans  did  not 
bring  teachers  and  pastors  with  them.  For  a  short 
time  they  were  visited  by  the  Swedish 
Lutheran  pastors  on  the  Delaware.  LTack  of 
But  as  the  Swedish  settlement  declined  Ministers 
and  the  Lutherans  of  Pennsylvania  multiplied,  their 
spiritual  destitution  became  acute  and  in  not  a  few 
cases  they  fell  a  prey  to  unscrupulous  ecclesiastical 
tramps  who  took  advantage  of  their  unorganized  con¬ 
dition  to  impose  on  them  and  almost  rob  them  of  their 
respect  for  the  ministry  and  their  love  for  the  church. 

Several  devoted  pastors  were,  however,  active  among 
them.  The  first  of  these  was  Daniel 
Falckner,  older  brother  of  the  Justus  Daniel 
Falckner  who  labored  in  New  York.  Falckner 
He  was  at  first  the  American  agent  for  a  German 
Land  Company.  He  seems  to  have  gathered  the 
Lutherans  of  Montgomery  County  into  an  organiza- 


48  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


tion  at  New  Hanover  about  1703  and  to  have  minis¬ 
tered  to  them  until  1708.  He  was  thus  the  first  regu¬ 
lar  pastor  of  the  first  German  Lutheran  congregation 
in  America.  After  1708  he  went  to  New  Jersey  and 
labored  there  for  thirty-three  years.  On  the  death  of 
his  brother  Justus  in  1723  his  field  for  a  few  years 
extended  as  far  north  as  Albany. 

Another  of  these  pioneer  preachers  in  Pennsylvania 
was  Anthony  Jacob  Henkel.  He  came  to  America  as 
an  exile  in  1717,  and  became  the  progenitor  of  a  long 
line  of  distinguished  ministers,  physicians  and  busi¬ 
ness  men.  He  first  took  up  his  abode  at  New  Hanover 


and  visited  all  the  German  settlements 
within  reach,  going  as  far  south  as 
Virginia.  He  preached  to  the  Luth- 


Anthony 
Jacob  Henkel 


erans  in  Philadelphia  and  Germantown  and  perhaps 
was  the  founder  of  these  two  congregations.  It  is  cer¬ 
tain  that  he  replaced  the  old  church  at  New  Hanover 
with  a  new  one  and  encouraged  the  building  of  a 
church  at  Germantown.  He  died  in  1728. 

At  the  very  time  that  Henkel  died  the  Stoovers  ar¬ 
rived  in  Philadelphia,  father  and  son,  bearing  the  same 
name,  John  Caspar.  The  father  soon  went  to  Virginia 
and  for  several  years  ministered  to  the  Lutherans 
there.  The  son  remained  in  Pennsylvania  and  became 
an  important  forerunner  of  the  great  patriarch.  In 
the  register  of  the  ship  that  brought  him  to  America 
he  had  called  himself  “missionary”  and  that  word  fitly 


describes  his  work.  He  first  made  his 
home  at  the  Trappe,  afterwards  at 


The  Stoevers 


New  Holland,  and  finally  in  Lebanon  County.  But  he 


PENNSYLVANIA 


49 


was  an  untiring  missionary  and  traveled  about  from 
place  to  place  all  over  eastern  Pennsylvania  and  made 
periodic  visits  into  Maryland  and  Virginia.  Wherever 
a  few  Germans  had  settled  he  held  services  for  them, 
baptized  their  children,  began  a  church  record,  and 
encouraged  them  to  build  a  church.  It  is  easy  to  trace 
his  unceasing  missionary  activity  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  colony.  Not  until  1733  did 
he  succeed  in  getting  someone  to  ordain  him  and  his 
ministerial  acts  before  that  date  were  irregular.  But 
for  fifty-one  years  he  continued  his  self-sacrificing 
work,  many  years  after  the  arrival  of  Muhlenberg. 
He  never  attempted  a  general  organization  and  for 
twenty  years  after  Muhlenberg  had  organized  a  synod, 
Stoever  held  aloof  from  it,  finally  joining  in  1768. 

The  last  of  the  men  who  helped  to  prepare  the  way 
for  Muhlenberg  was  John  Christian  Schulz.  His  stay 
in  this  country  was  very  brief ;  he  came  in  the  fall  of 
1732  and  left  in  the  spring  of  1733.  It  was  he  who 
ordained  the  Stoevers.  His  motives  seem  to  have  been 
rather  mercenary.  But  his  chief  interest  for  our  sub¬ 
ject  lies  in  the  fact  that  he  united  the 
three  congregations  of  Philadelphia,  J°hn  Chnstlan 
the  Trappe,  and  New  Hanover  into 
one  parish  and  persuaded  “the  united  congregations” 
to  send  him  and  two  laymen  on  a  collecting  tour  to 
Germany  to  secure  more  ministers  and  teachers  and  to 
solicit  funds  for  churches  and  school  houses.  From 
this  mission  Pastor  Schulz  never  returned  to  America 
but  in  the  end  the  result  of  the  enterprise  was  the 
coming  of  Muhlenberg. 

4 


50  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Appeals 
for  Help 


Nine  years  elapsed  before  the  seed  sown  by  the 
American  delegation  of  1733  bore  fruit.  They  were 
years  of  anxiety  and  peril  for  the  destitute  Lutherans 
of  Pennsylvania.  The  delay  was  due  to  mutual  mis¬ 
understanding.  The  appeal  had  been  laid  before  Pastor 

Ziegenhagen,  the  court  preacher  at 
Fruitless  London,  and  Professor  Francke  at 

Halle.  These  authorities  insisted  on 
clear  and  definite  arrangements  in 
advance  for  the  support  of  the  pastor.  Such  arrange¬ 
ments  the  Pennsylvania  congregations,  though  they 
embraced  fifteen  hundred  families,  firmly  refused  to 
make,  arguing  that  they  could  not  support  a  man  “in  a 
life  of  luxury”  and  that  they  did  not  want  “a  covetous 
man”  as  pastor. 

The  negotiations  dragged  over  years.  But  when  in 
1741  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  Moravian,  suddenly  ap¬ 
peared  in  Pennsylvania,  posing  as  a  Lutheran,  holding 
inter-denominational  conferences,  and  assuming  lead¬ 
ership  among  the  shepherdless  Luth¬ 
erans  of  the  colony,  the  Halle  authori¬ 
ties,  who  knew  Zinzendorf,  were 
stirred  to  immediate  action,  and  laying  hands  on  Henry 
Melchior  Muhlenberg,  sent  him  to  Pennsylvania  to 
plant  the  Church  on  a  firm  foundation.  With  the 
coming  of  Muhlenberg  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
America  enters  upon  a  new  period  of  her  history. 


Muhlenberg 

Sent 


PART  II 

AT  THE  BIRTH  OF  THE  NATION 

(1740-1790) 


Unity  of  Organization 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  PATRIARCH 


When  Professor  Francke  at  Halle  in  1741  chose 

young  Muhlenberg  for  the  work  of  the  Lutheran 

Church  in  America  he  chose  more  wisely  than  he  knew. 

Muhlenberg  was  precisely  the  man  demanded  by  the 

situation.  The  parochial  period  in  the 

life  of  the  Church,  like  the  colonial  Tphe 

of  the  Hour 

period  in  the  life  of  the  State,  was 
about  to  pass  and  the  organic  unity  of  the  parishes 
into  the  larger  Church  was  about  to  parallel  the  federal 
union  of  the  colonies  into  the  American  Republic.  God 
in  His  wisdom  equipped  and  directed  the  patriarch  of 
the  Church  even  as  He  raised  up  and  guided  the  father 
of  his  country. 

At  the  time  that  Muhlenberg  began  his  work  in 
America  the  whole  spirit  of  the  American  colonists 
was  changing.  They  were  still  politically  dependent 
upon  England  but  they  were  becoming  conscious  of 
their  distinctive  American  character.  The  population 
had  grown  from  a  quarter  of  a  million  in  1690  to  a 
million  and  a  half  in  1750.  The  west¬ 
ern  frontier  had  leaped  the  Blue  Ridge  The  End 
and  many  of  the  settlers  had  turned  of  I!°?atlon 
their  backs  on  the  ocean.  Large  non- 
English  elements  had  come  in.  The  most  numerous 
of  these  were  the  German  Protestants  who  went  mainly 
to  the  Carolinas  and  the  middle  colonies  and  especially 
to  Pennsylvania.  Marvelous  prosperity  had  begotten 

53 


54  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


a  spirit  of  self-reliance  and  intense  local  patriotism. 
Rapid  social  development  had  also  taken  place  during 
the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  So  that  by 
the  year  1750  we  have  the  mingling  of  all  the  elements 
of  a  new  nation,  young,  strong,  and  slowly  becoming 
conscious  of  its  power.  The  period  of  isolation  and 
divergence  was  drawing  to  an  end.  The  situation  was 
such  that  with  the  close  of  the  wars  against  the  French 
it  needed  only  a  proper  occasion  and  capable  leaders 
to  bring  about  a  political  revolution  and  the  birth  of 
an  independent  nation. 

A  parallel  situation  had  developed  in  the  spiritual 
life  of  the  people.  This  was  particularly  true  of  the 
Lutherans.  While  still  dependent  upon  Europe  for 
missionary  supplies  they  were  becoming  conscious  of 
their  own  peculiar  needs.  Their  numerical  increase 
had  far  outstripped  the  European  supply  of  pastors 
and  funds  for  churches.  In  a  single  year  (1749)  as 
many  as  seven  thousand  Germans  entered  the  port  of 


Philadelphia  alone.  The  few  faithful 
pioneer  preachers,  with  all  their  devo¬ 
tion  and  abundant  labors,  simply  could 


Special  Needs 
of  Lutherans 


not  cover  the  entire  field,  and  their  vision  never  rose 
above  the  parish  to  span  the  Church  as  a  whole.  No 
effort  could  be  made  to  minister  the  means  of  grace  to 
those  enterprising  Lutherans  who  pushed  out  into  the 
new  frontiers.  Meanwhile  special  dangers  in  the  forms 
of  abounding  immorality  and  waning  spirituality 
threatened  the  congregations  and  the  unchurched 
everywhere.  Then,  too,  spiritual  vagabonds  and  low 
deceivers  wrought  havoc  among  many  congregations. 


THE  PATRIARCH 


55 


Church  unionists  began  to  work,  and  that  they  partly 
succeeded  among  the  Lutherans  simply  indicates  a  felt 
need  for  larger  organization. 

Elements  of  strength  were  not  lacking  among  the 
Lutherans  in  America.  But  their  weakness  lay  in  their 
scattered  condition  and  their  threatened  absorption 
into  other  churches.  By  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century  this  fact  had  become  manifest 
and  it  needed  but  a  leader  with  the  Dlsorsamzatlon 
proper  talent  of  mind  and  heart  to  effect  a  beginning 
of  that  process  of  integration  that  led  the  Church  out 
of  its  missionary  and  parochial  epoch  and  created  the 
independent  and  self-reliant  Lutheran  Church  in 
America. 

The  man  providentially  prepared  for  this  great  task 
and  divinely  called  to  perform  it  was  Henry  Melchior 
Muhlenberg. 

Muhlenberg  was  thirty-one  years  old  when  he  came 
to  America.  His  training  and  experience  had  exactly 
fitted  him  for  his  work  here.  He  had 
come  from  the  electorate  of  Hanover  Muhienbergs 
and  had  received  his  theological  educa¬ 
tion  at  the  University  of  Goettingen.  Then  for  fifteen 
months  he  had  taught  various  branches  in  the  Halle 
Orphanage.  Meanwhile  he  had  acquired  much  facility 
in  languages  and  in  music. 

For  a  while  he  entertained  thoughts  of  going  as  a 
missionary  to  India,  but  he  was  prevailed  on  to  accept 
a  call  to  the  country  church  of  Grosshennersdorf  in  the 
northeastern  corner  of  Saxony.  Two  years  later, 
September,  1741,  while  on  his  way  to  his  birthplace 


56  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


he  chanced  to  visit  Halle.  It  was  just  at  the  time 


when  the  situation  in  Pennsylvania 
was  engaging  Francke’s  mind.  The 
call  from  America  was  urged  on  the 


His  Call  and 
Qualifications 


young  pastor,  and  he  promptly  accepted  it  as  a  divine 
call.  A  fervent  Christian  and  a  firm  Lutheran,  strong 
in  body  and  trained  in  mind,  endowed  with  unusual 
tact  and  adaptability,  a  happy  combination  of  self- 
made  man  and  university-trained  scholar,  a  rare  bal¬ 
ance  of  broad-minded  vision  and  practical  affairs — a 
chain  of  providences  had  prepared  the  right  man  for 
the  work  and  had  directed  him  to  it. 

Muhlenberg  first  landed  at  Charleston  and  spent  a 
happy  week  among  the  Salzburg  Lutherans  at  Ebe- 
nezer.N  He  arrived  in  Philadelphia  November  25,  1742. 
He  had  come  unannounced,  as  there  had  been  no  cor¬ 
respondence  between  the  Pennsylvania  congregations 
and  the  European  authorities  since  1739.  He  found 
the  flock  in  Philadelphia  confused  and  distracted,  the 
majority  following  Zinzendorf  while  the  minority  had 
called  the  vagabond  preacher,  old  Valentine  Kraft, 
and  were  worshiping  in  a  barn.  At  New  Hanover, 


thirty-six  miles  northwest  of  Phila¬ 
delphia,  an  unfinished  log  building  was 


His  Arrival 


in  use  as  a  church,  but  the  congregation  was  divided 
over  the  person  of  the  ecclesiastical  tramp  and  ex¬ 
druggist  Empiricus  Schmid.  At  the  Trappe,  nine 
miles  south  of  New  Hanover,  Kraft  had  also  imposed 
himself  on  the  congregation.  But  four  weeks  sufficed 
for  Muhlenberg  to  gain  full  possession  of  his  field  and 
to  rid  his  parishes  of  Zinzendorf  and  the  imposters. 


THE  PATRIARCH 


57 


His  Motto 


On  December  27th  he  was  installed  by  Rev.  Tranberg, 
the  Swedish  pastor  at  Wilmington.  The  three  churches 
known  as  “the  united  congregations”  now  received 
him  as  their  pastor. 

Muhlenberg  took  as  his  motto:  Ecclesia  Plantanda, 
the  Church  must  be  planted.  It  was  a  splendid  im¬ 
perative  that  embraced  in  its  compre¬ 
hensive  scope  not  merely  the  three 
congregations  over  which  he  had  been  installed  pastor 
but  all  the  scattered  Lutherans  in  Pennsylvania  and 
other  states,  their  permanent  establishment  and  abid¬ 
ing  welfare. 

This  work  of  planting  the  Church  Muhlenberg  began 

by  opening  a  school  in  each  of  his  congregations.  Then 

the  congregation  in  Germantown  was  added  as  the 

fourth  church  in  his  charge.  He  covered  the  field  by 

alternating  between  the  city  and  the 

country,  week  by  week.  The  congre-  Beginning 

the  Work 

gations  grew  and  took  courage.  There 
was  no  salary  for  the  pastor,  nothing  but  maintenance, 
but  he  stuck  to  his  post.  His  presence  inspired  new 
life  in  all  directions  and  the  following  summer,  1743, 
new  churches  were  begun.  In  a  few  years  worthy 
edifices  were  dedicated  by  all  four  of  the  congrega¬ 
tions. 

Meanwhile  Muhlenberg’s  labors  had  begun  to  extend 

to  other  Lutherans  of  the  dispersion. 

Calls  for  help  began  to  reach  him  Broadening 
.  ,  ,  ,  the  Field 

from  various  quarters  and  wherever 

possible  he  responded,  giving  himself  unreservedly  to 

the  work  of  catechizing,  confirming,  teaching,  recon- 


58  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


ciling,  establishing,  building,  preaching  and  adminis¬ 
tering  the  sacraments.  He  rejoiced  to  see  the  people 
advancing  in  faithfulness  and  spiritual  strength. 

But  Muhlenberg  had  his  trials,  and  the  vast  field 
with  its  dire  needs  almost  overwhelmed  him.  He 
needed  helpers  and  sympathizers.  He  had  kept  in 

touch  with  Halle  and  sent  minute  re- 
The  Halle  ports  of  his  work  in  America.  The 

fathers  at  Halle,  in  order  to  keep  the 
mission  cause  before  the  people,  published  from  time 
to  time  extracts  from  Muhlenberg’s  letters  and  diaries. 
These  publications  constitute  the  famous  “Halle  Re¬ 
ports,”  the  chief  source  of  our  information  on  this 
subject. 

One  effect  of  these  “Reports”  was  to  bring  Muhlen¬ 
berg  re-enforcements  in  men  and  money.  Already  at 
the  close  of  1743  a  layman,  J.  F.  Vigera,  had  come  from 
the  Ebenezer  colony  in  Georgia  and  gave  substantial 

assistance  by  taking  charge  of  some 
of  the  schools.  Another  excellent 
teacher  was  found  in  J.  J.  Loeser.  But  Muhlenberg’s 
heart  was  greatly  cheered  by  the  arrival  in  January, 
1745,  of  three  men  from  Halle,  one  pastor  and  two 
catechists.  The  pastor  was  Rev.  Peter  Brunnholtz, 
and  the  catechists  were  John  Nicholas  Kurtz  and  John 
Helfrich  Schaum.  They  brought  funds  to  help  build 
the  new  churches. 

The  two  pastors  divided  the  field,  Brunnholtz  taking 
charge  of  the  churches  in  Philadelphia  and  German¬ 
town  while  Muhlenberg  retained  the  country  churches 
together  with  the  general  oversight  of  the  field.  The 


Re-enforcements 


THE  PATRIARCH 


59 


catechists  were  appointed  as  teachers  of  the  schools. 

This  arrangement  made  it  easier  to 

supply  the  means  of  grace  to  outlying  Fhe  Field 

Divided 

districts  and  to  undertake  extended 

A 

trips  among  the  unorganized  Lutherans.  At  the  same 
time  Muhlenberg  gave  notice  that  he  had  come  to 
America  to  stay.  For  in  April,  1745,  he  married  Anna 
Mary  Weiser,  daughter  of  the  famous  Indian  agent, 
whom  he  had  learned  to  know  two  years  before  that 
when  he  visited  Tulpehocken  to  adjust  the  difficulties 
among  the  factions  in  that  congregation. 

The  work  of  “planting  the  church”  now  expanded 
rapidly.  Outposts  were  established  at  Upper  Milford 
and  Saucon  (in  Lehigh  County),  at  Easton,  Perkasie 
and  other  places.  Two  journeys  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  each  were  made  across  the  Delaware  to 
the  Lutheran  congregations  on  the  upper  waters  of  the 
Raritan  River  in  order  to  settle  troubles  that  had  been 
stirred  up  by  a  clerical  scamp.  Lancaster,  still  further 
away,  called  for  help  against  the  Moravian  Nyberg 
who  had  taken  charge  of  the  Lutheran  church  there. 
After  at  least  two  visits  to  Lancaster 
Pastor  John  Frederick  Handschuh,  Long  J°urneys 
who  arrived  from  Halle  in  1748,  was  located  there.  In 
1747  a  journey  was  made  to  Frederick,  Maryland,  by 
way  of  Tulpehocken,  Lancaster,  York,  Hanover,  and 

/r 

the  Monocacy.  Everywhere  on  this  trip  Muhlenberg 
found  traces  of  Nyberg’s  pernicious  influence.  To  the 
distracted  churches  his  coming  was  like  life  from  the 
dead.  He  succeeded  in  reconciling  jarring  factions, 
encouraged  organization,  and  brought  the  frontier 


60  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


churches  into  vital  relations  with  the  older  Eastern 
parishes  and  with  the  mother  Church  of  Europe. 

But  the  greatest  step  forward  in  the  work  of  “plant¬ 
ing  the  church”  was  the  organization  of  a  synod  in 
1748.  It  was  the  most  important  event  in  Muhlen¬ 
berg’s  career.  Already  in  April  of  that  year  Muhlen¬ 
berg  and  Brunnholtz  and  Handschuh  had  held  a  con¬ 
ference  and  agreed  upon  a  uniform  liturgy.  It  was 
essentially  the  “Common  Service”  of  the  present  day. 


It  needed  to  be  submitted  to  the  other 
pastors.  Moreover,  by  the  month  of 
August  St.  Michael’s  Church  in  Phila- 


Synod 

Organized 


delphia  was  ready  for  dedication  and  the  occasion 
promised  to  bring  together  the  representative  men  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  in  America.  Then,  too,  the  Tul- 
pehocken  charge  was  strongly  urging  the  ordination 
of  Nicholas  Kurtz  to  become  their  pastor.  Here  was 
abundant  occasion  for  the  organization  of  a  synod. 
The  dedication  and  ordination  took  place  on  August 
25th  and  the  organization  of  synod  the  following  day. 

This  first  synod  consisted  of  six  ministers  and 
twenty-four  lay  delegates  besides  the  entire  council  of 
the  Philadelphia  Church.  The  ministers  were  Muhlen¬ 
berg,  Brunnholtz,  Handschuh  and  Kurtz,  together 


with  Hartwig  of  New  York  and  Pro¬ 
vost  Sandin  of  the  Swedish  churches 
as  advisory  members.  The  lay  dele¬ 
gates  represented  ten  congregations. 


The  First 
Meeting  of 
Synod 


Muhlenberg  occupied  the  chair  and  in  his  opening 
address  emphasized  the  importance  of  a  closer  union 
among  the  congregations.  The  lay  delegates  reported 


THE  PATRIARCH 


61 


Effects  of  the 
Organization 


concerning  the  efficiency  of  their  pastors,  and  the 
pastors  reported  concerning  the  condition  of  their 
parochial  schools.  The  common  liturgy  was  examined 
and  adopted.  Congratulatory  addresses  were  made  by 
Hartwig  and  Sandin,  and  the  Synod  adjourned  to  meet 
the  next  year  in  Lancaster. 

This  small  beginning  was  the  first  step  in  the  prepa¬ 
ration  for  the  independence  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
in  America.  The  organization  was  known  at  first  as 
the  “United  Pastors”  and  their  parishes  as  the  “United 
Congregations,”  but  it  is  called  today  the  Ministerium 
of  Pennsylvania.  Embracing  at  first  only  ten  congre¬ 
gations  out  of  the  seventy  in  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  and  adjacent  colonies,  it  never¬ 
theless  grew  rapidly  and  set  the 
example  for  synodical  organization  in  other  colonies. 
It  taught  the  Lutherans  of  America  to  lay  aside  the 
narrow,  parochial  view  of  things  and  to  take  the 
larger,  synodical  view,  or  as  Muhlenberg  himself  said, 
to  “understand  the  connection  and  interest  of  the 
whole.”  It  created  the  spirit  of  self-reliance  and 
aggressiveness  that  saved  the  Church  in  times  of  dan¬ 
ger  and  cultivated  the  faith  of  the  fathers  both  ex- 
tensively  and  intensively. 

Muhlenberg  was  easily  the  moving  spirit  of  the 
Synod,  and  from  the  time  of  its  organization  he  had 
the  oversight  and  care  of  all  the  churches.  One  of 
the  foremost  problems  that  engaged  his  attention  was 
the  supply  of  ministers.  The  men  who  came  from 
Europe  were  utterly  inadequate  to  man  the  rapidly 
growing  field.  So  Muhlenberg  planned  for  a  native 


62  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


ministry.  The  year  after  the  synod  was  formed  he 
bought  forty-nine  acres  of  land  in  Philadelphia  on 


which  to  erect  a  school  and  seminary 
and  a  home  for  the  aged.  But  war 
interfered  and  the  project  was  not 
accomplished.  Nevertheless  Muhlen- 


Plans  for 
a  Native 
Ministry 


berg  gave  his  three  sons  to  the  ministry  and  took  other 
theological  students  into  his  own  home  where  he  main¬ 
tained  and  taught  them. 

Meanwhile  troubles  in  several  congregations  in  the 
province  of  New  York  called  for  a  peacemaker.  Muh¬ 
lenberg  visited  various  congregations  along  the  Hud¬ 
son  and  then  preached  in  New  York  City.  He  was 
so  impressed  with  the  need  in  that  city  that  he  allowed 
himself  to  be  prevailed  on  to  spend  six  months  there 
in  the  summer  of  1751  and  three  months  the  following 
summer.  He  had  to  preach  English,  Dutch,  and  Ger¬ 
man  every  Sunday,  but  he  brought  unity  and  new  life 
to  the  distracted  congregations.  Much  time  was  also 
spent  among  the  Lutheran  churches  of  New  Jersey. 


In  1753  another  trip  was  made  to  the 
churches  west  of  the  Susquehanna  as 


Peacemaker 


far  as  Frederick,  Maryland.  And  even  Charleston 
and  Ebenezer,  in  the  far  south,  required  a  visit  in 
1774.  But  permanent  calls  away  from  his  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  field  the  President  of  Synod  could  not  accept. 

The  Synod  held  no  meetings  from  1755  to  1759. 
The  pastors  were  fairly  overwhelmed  with  the  ava¬ 
lanche  of  Lutheran  immigration.  There  was  some 
opposition  to  the  synod  on  the  part  of  laymen  and  on 
the  part  of  those  ministers  who  had  no  connection 


THE  PATRIARCH 


63 


with  Halle.  The  congregations  were  of  a  very  hetero¬ 
geneous  composition.  There  were  tremendous  discour¬ 
agements  in  the  work.  There  was  a 

growing  feeling  in  Muhlenberg’s  heart  Discourage¬ 
ments 

and  among  the  other  “United  Pastors” 
that  the  authorities  in  Europe  did  not  really 
understand  the  needs  of  their  American  “mission  field” 
and  were  not  making  adequate  efforts  to  supply  those 
needs.  It  was  a  rather  gloomy  picture  that  the  leaders 
of  the  synod  painted  in  1754  for  the  fathers  in  Halle. 

But  with  the  close  of  the  decade  conditions  improved 
somewhat.  The  French  and  Indian  War  subsided. 
The  new  provost  of  the  Swedish  churches,  the  learned 
and  pious  Wrangle,  proved  to  be  a  most  valuable  coun¬ 
sellor  and  a  warm  personal  friend.  His  coming  raised 
the  patriarch’s  spirits  and  encouraged 
him  to  revive  the  synod  from  its  state  Synod  Revived 

of  suspended  animation.  This  was  done  in  1760.  The 
organization  was  improved,  the  elements  of  a  consti¬ 
tution  began  to  gather,  and  never  after  that  did 
synodical  activity  lag. 

In  1762  a  congregational  constitution  was  prepared 
for  St.  Michael’s  in  Philadelphia.  This  was  highly 
important.  It  embodied  the  results  of 
many  years  of  experience  and  obser-  A  Model 

#I_L^  1—  a  .  -  —  —  1  — 

vation  among  German,  Swedish  and  ~  ^  . 

Constitution 

Dutch  Lutherans,  and  it  became  the 

model  for  similar  constitutions  throughout  the 

country. 

A  few  more  years  and  the  patriarch’s  strength  began 
to  fail.  But  other  able  men  were  arising  to  be  his 


64  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Muhlenberg’s 

Work 

Completed 


helpers  and  afterwards  to  take  his  place.  The  Church 
was  planted.  People  had  been  gathered  into  congre¬ 
gations  and  congregations  had  been  organized  into  a 
synod.  Buildings  had  been  erected  and  stable  consti¬ 
tutions  provided.  A  community  of 
interest  had  been  established  and  a 
stream  of  native  theological  students 
had  begun  to  flow  into  the  vacant 
pulpits.  The  ecclesiastical  development  of  the  Luth¬ 
eran  Church  had  kept  pace  with  the  political  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  colonies.  The  Church  was  fortified  within 
and  without  against  ecclesiastical  dissipation,  prepared 
to  withstand  the  shock  of  the  Revolution  from  Euro¬ 
pean  control  and  ready  to  resist  the  chilling  blasts  of 
rationalism  and  religious  indifference  that  were  soon 
to  sweep  over  the  land.  The  Church  was  planted:  let 
the  nation  be  born. 

In  1779  the  correspondence  with  Halle  was  inter¬ 
rupted  by  the  war.  It  was  not  resumed 
The  Church  for  more  than  a  generation,  and  the 

Church  in  America  peaceably  obtained 
its  independence.  An  American  hymn- 
book  was  ordered  in  1782  and  prepared  under  Muhlen¬ 
berg’s  guidance.  The  liturgy  and  ministerial  acts 
were  printed.  And  the  American  Lutheran  Church 

) 

The  Patriarch’s  public  work  was 
finished.  He  lived  until  1787,  but  the 
distractions  of  the  Revolution  pre¬ 
vented  any  more  large  enterprises.  He  rejoiced  in 
the  loyalty  of  his  beloved  Lutherans  to  the  cause  of 


Becomes 

Independent 


had  been  born. 

Passing  of 
the  Patriarch 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG 


THE  PATRIARCH 


65 


American  independence  and  took  pride  in  the  splendid 
political  activities  of  his  distinguished  sons  during 
that  critical  period.  He  received  many  honors  in  his 
age  and  after  his  death,  but  his  chief  monument  is  the 
American  Lutheran  Church. 


5 


CHAPTER  VII 
GROWTH  AND  EXPANSION 


The  planting  of  the  Church  had  come  none  too  soon. 
Not  only  did  the  organization  of  the  independent  life 
of  the  Church  on  American  soil  prepare  it  to  withstand 
the  shock  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  but  it  also  pre¬ 


pared  the  Church  to  absorb,  in  some 
measure  at  least,  the  swelling  numbers 
of  Lutherans  who  were  pouring  into 


Prepared 
to  Grow 


this  country.  The  years  that  cover  the  span  of  Muhlen¬ 
berg’s  life  in  America  witnessed  not  only  the  growth 
of  organization  but  also  a  great  numerical  increase  and 
geographical  expansion  of  the  Church. 

When  Muhlenberg  came  to  America  the  white  popu¬ 
lation  of  the  country  numbered  less  than  three-quarters 
of  a  million.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  when 
all  immigration  ceased  for  a  number  of  years,  it 
numbered  two  and  a  half  millions.  A  few  years  after 
Muhlenberg’s  death,  when  the  first  census  was  taken, 
it  had  grown  to  four  millions.  The  increase  in  the 
number  of  Lutherans  in  the  land  more  than  kept  pace 


with  the  increase  in  general  population. 


Increase 
in  Numbers 


When  Muhlenberg  arrived  in  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  there  were  probably  far  less 


than  twenty  thousand  people  in  the  colony  who  were 
in  any  sense  Lutherans.  But  two  years  after  the 
organization  of  the  synod  the  number  had  increased 
at  least  three-fold,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  seventy-five  thousand  of  the  one 


66 


GROWTH  AND  EXPANSION 


67 


hundred  and  ten  thousand  Germans  in  the  colony  were 
Lutherans.  In  other  colonies  also,  though  not  to  the 
same  degree  as  in  Pennsylvania,  the  numbers  of  the 
Lutherans  were  steadily  growing.  Of  course  only  a 
fraction  of  these  were  gathered  into  congregations. 

Moreover,  this  growing  Lutheran  constituency  was 
no  longer  in  1790  concentrated  about  the  chief  ports 
and  main  waterways  near  the  Atlantic.  It  had  begun 
to  scatter  and  spread  into  the  interior. 

We  have  seen  how  some  of  the  Germans  on  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson  as  early  as  1713  courageously 
moved  out  into  the  valleys  of  the  Schoharie  and  the  Mo¬ 
hawk  and  how  from  there  ten  years  later  thirty-three 
families  made  their  way  to  Berks  and  Lebanon  Coun¬ 
ties,  Pennsylvania.  The  Lutherans  of  New  York  had 
also  spread  into  New  Jersey  and  peopled  whole  congre¬ 
gations  there.  The  Ebenezer  colony  of  Salzburgers 
had  been  scattered  by  the  war,  and  its 

fragments  furnished  the  nucleus  for  Beginning 

to  Scatter 

a  number  of  Lutheran  communities  in 
the  South.  Lutheran  congregations  had  been  estab¬ 
lished  at  Charleston,  at  Orangeburg,  and  in  Lexing¬ 
ton  County,  South  Carolina.  In  North  Carolina  the 
Lutheran  settlement  at  New  Berne  had  begun  in  that 
same  emigration  of  Palatines  that  brought  Kocherthal 
to  New  York,  and  other  settlements  of  Lutherans  soon 
followed  in  that  colony.  The  Lutherans  in  Madison 
County,  Virginia,  had  come  largely  from  North  Caro¬ 
lina.  Baltimore  also  had  its  Lutheran  Church. 

But  the  chief  center  of  Lutheran  expansion  and  dis¬ 
tribution  in  colonial  times  was  Pennsylvania.  Even 


68  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


before  Muhlenberg  arrived  the  Lutherans  of 

Pennsylvania  had  begun  to  push  out  from  Philadelphia 

and  beyond  the  counties  of  Montgomery,  Lancaster  and 

Berks,  towards  the  frontiers  of  the  colony.  In  the 

fourth  decade  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 

Starting  From  tury  they  crossed  the  Susquehanna. 
Pennsylvania 

Some  of  them  kept  east  of  the  South 
Mountain  and  established  Lutheran  congregations  in 
York  County  and  at  various  points  in  Maryland  as  far 
as  Frederick.  Others  went  west  of  the  mountain  and 
followed  the  prolongation  of  the  Cumberland  Valley 
from  Harrisburg  to  Hagerstown  and  far  beyond  into 
the  Shenandoah  Valley  of  Virginia.  Even  North  Caro¬ 
lina,  in  its  central  and  western  parts,  had  been  settled 
by  Lutherans  from  Pennsylvania. 

Muhlenberg  had  been  called  to  serve  three  congre¬ 
gations  in  1742.  But  so  rapid  was  the  growth  of 
organization  and  the  increase  in  numbers  that  already 

in  1771  he  reported  seventy  congrega- 
Rapid  Growth  tions  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  adjacent 
provinces  over  which  he  was  expected  to  exercise  some 
kind  of  oversight.  And  there  were  about  thirty  Luth- 

'V 

eran  congregations  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 

Everywhere,  as  enterprising  Americans  pressed  into 
the  interior,  subduing  the  hostile  Indians,  taming  the 
wilderness,  and  beginning  that  long  and  thrilling 

romance  known  as  “the  winning  of 
Among  the  the  West,”  Lutherans  were  in  the  van 

of  that  great  movement  carrying  along 
with  them  their  faith  and  hope  and  love  and  beckoning 
for  spiritual  ministry  to  follow  them. 


GROWTH  AND  EXPANSION 


69 


How  to  provide  adequate  spiritual  leadership  for  the 
rapidly  expanding  Church  was  the  most  serious  prob¬ 
lem  pressing  for  solution  at  the  close  of  the  war  for 
independence.  Under  the  inspiration  of  Muhlenberg’s 
“Halle  Reports”  a  steady  stream  of 
able  leaders  came  from  the  fatherland.  Need  of 
But  their  number  was  utterly  inade*  Spiritual 

quate  to  meet  the  growing  need.  Under 
the  impulse  of  the  ripening  organization  of  the  synod 
native  Americans  were  trained  in  American  parson¬ 
ages  and  ordained  to  the  ministry.  But  their  number, 
also,  was  almost  infinitesimal  compared  with  the  need, 
and  their  training  was  often  very  indifferent. 

At  the  time  of  Muhlenberg’s  death  there  were  not 
more  than  forty  Lutheran  ministers  of  any  kind  in 
all  America.  There  were  many  noble  spirits  among 
them  and  several  shining  lights,  such 
as  J.  N.  Kurtz  and  J.  H.  C.  Helmuth,  Cal1  for  a 
and  Muhlenberg’s  sons-in-law,  Kunze 
and  Schultze.  But  their  number  was 
all  too  few.  Then,  too,  the  Halle  type  of  minister  no 
longer  predominated  so  exclusively  as  it  once  had. 
Moreover,  Halle  itself  was  changing.  The  teachers  of 
Muhlenberg’s  acquaintance  had  passed  off  the  scene 
and  the  new  teachers  were  not  so  firmly  Lutheran  and 
evangelical  nor  did  they  inculcate  the  same  religious 
fervor  and  warm  Christian  piety  as  the  Franckes.  All 
the  more  urgent  was  the  need  of  providing  a  native 
American  Lutheran  ministry. 

The  project  of  establishing  a  theological  seminary 
had  vanished  with  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  and 


Native 

Ministry 


70  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


after  the  smoke  of  the  battle  had  lifted  the  times  were 
not  so  favorable  for  such  an  enterprise  and  a  new 
generation  of  ministers  had  arisen  unaccustomed  to 
the  heroic  undertakings  of  a  Muhlenberg.  Only  the 


organization  of  new  synods  covering 
the  whole  country  and  the  gathering  of 
these  into  a  general  body  could  furnish 


The  Seminary 
Delayed 


the  background  for  such  an  undertaking.  That  time 
was  soon  to  come.  But  for  the  present  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  America  was  dependent  on  Europe  for  her 
ministry,  even  after  the  birth  of  the  nation;  and  the 
supply  of  spiritual  leaders  from  the  native  ranks,  so 
necessary  for  the  full  maturity  of  the  Church,  waited 
for  a  new  period  in  general  American  history. 


PART  III 

IN  THE  YOUTH  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 

(1790-1830) 


Cutting  European  Ties 


CHAPTER  VIII 

GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


The  first  forty  years  in  the  life  of  the  American 
Republic  were  marked  politically  by  rapid  development 
of  the  national  spirit.  That  spirit  was  painfully  born 
amid  the  throes  of  the  debates  on  the 
Constitution  and  its  ratification  by  the  The  Infant 
States.  Very  feeble  at  first  and  barely  Republlc 
able  to  continue  alive,  it  gradually  gained  strength  until 
near  the  end  of  the  period  now  before  us  it  attained 
its  full  stature  of  health  and  vigor. 

The  rise  of  the  national  spirit  meant  that  the  thought 
of  the  people  broke  through  the  narrow  limits  of  State 
lines  and  contemplated  the  broader  and  deeper  ques¬ 
tions  that  arose  out  of  the  life  of  the  whole  country. 
It  resulted  in  the  centralization  of  power  in  the  hands 
of  the  federal  government  and  the  con¬ 
sequent  limitation  of  the  powers  of  the  Natlona.1  s^lf" 
States.  It  also  severed  the  bonds  that  Determ-natlon 
tied  the  Americans  to  their  European  masters,  and 
gave  them  independence  in  fact  as  the  Revolutionary 
War  had  given  them  independence  in  name.  This 
growth  of  the  American  spirit  with  its  attendant  sev¬ 
erance  of  European  ties  applied  to  the  intellectual  and 
religious  life  as  well  as  the  political.  It  helps  to  explain 
the  general  trend  of  events  in  the  Lutheran  Church 
during  this  period. 

Let  us  observe  first  how  the  course  of  political  events 
served  to  strengthen  the  spirit  of  American  nationality. 

73 


74  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


The  national  elections  of  representatives  and  senators 
for  the  Federal  Congress,  and  the  selection  of  presi¬ 
dential  electors,  recurring  at  short  intervals,  served 
to  direct  the  attention  of  the  people  periodically  to 
questions  of  national  interest.  The  people  of  the  whole 
country  were  made  to  engage  in  the  same  acts  at  the 
same  time  and  for  common  national  ends,  and  this 
meant  that  the  period  of  isolation  was  forever  gone. 


An  unbroken  succession  of  federal 
events  unconsciously  stimulated  the 
sentiment  of  common  concern,  broad- 


Growing  Spirit 
of  Nationality 


ening  the  ideas  and  sympathies  of  the  people  and  draw¬ 
ing  them  away  from  the  narrow  and  opposing  interests 
of  State  and  section.  This  unconscious  growth  of 
national  affection  is  well  illustrated  by  the  effects  of 
Washington’s  journey  from  Mt.  Vernon  to  New  York 
to  be  inaugurated.  It  was  a  continuous  triumph,  and 
those  who  participated,  those  who  witnessed,  and  those 
who  read  and  heard  about  it,  were  thrilled  with  hope 
and  pride  over  the  auspicious  beginning  of  the  national 
government. 

Then,  too,  a  whole  series  of  legislative  acts,  embrac¬ 
ing  all  the  leading  measures  of  the  Washington  and 
Adams  administrations,  called  into  life  national  agents 
and  national  functions  and  subordinated  the  interests 
of  section  to  those  of  nation.  There  was  the 
protective  tariff  on  imported  goods.  This  served  to 
increase  the  powers  of  the  central  government  and 
gained  support  for  the  nationalist  view  of  the  functions 
of  government.  Then,  the  federal  payment  at  their  face 
value  of  all  debts  incurred  during  the  Revolutionary 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


75 


War,  and  the  assumption  by  the  United  States  of  the 

State  debts,  the  levying  of  an  excise  on  distilled  liquors 

(and  incidentally  its  forced  collection 

in  western  Pennsylvania),  and  above  *ncreaS11^  the 

Federal  Powers 

all  the  chartering  of  a  United  States 
Bank,  all  of  these  features  of  Hamilton’s  grand 
financial  system  were  conscious  and  extraordinary 
stretches  of  national  authority  which  called  into  vigor¬ 
ous  exercise  the  implied  powers  of  the  Constitution, 
gave  concrete  proof  of  the  strength  of  the  national 
government,  and  rode  rough-shod  over  all  petty  inter¬ 
ests  of  localities. 

Moreover,  our  foreign  relations  in  this  period  are 
at  once  an  indication  and  a  cause  of  the  growing  prin¬ 
ciple  of  nationality.  Washington’s  famous  proclama¬ 
tion  of  neutrality  as  between  France  and  England  was 
a  second  declaration  of  independence 
which  shook  off  forever  the  colonial  Foreign 

.....  .  ,  ,  Relations 

habit  of  cringing  dependence  upon 
Europe.  The  popular  rejection  of  the  French  minister 
Genet,  the  great  indignation  against  England  in  1793 
and  1794,  and  the  war  fever  kindled  against  France 
by  the  X  Y  Z  affair, — all  looked  in  the  direction  of 
strengthening  the  nation  at  the  expense  of  her  com¬ 
ponent  parts. 

So  firmly  established  was  the  principle  of  nationality 
at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  when 
the  Federalists  overleaped  themselves  and  the  reaction 
placed  Jefferson  in  the  presidential  chair,  that  great 
Democrat,  the  firm  advocate  of  strict  construction,  of 
state  sovereignty,  and  of  limited  national  powers, 


76  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


found  himself  forced  by  circumstances  to  make  use  of 


the  very  powers  he  had  opposed.  In 
1803  he  purchased  the  Louisiana  Terri¬ 
tory  although  he  himself  acknowledged 


Louisiana 

Purchase 


that  he  had  no  constitutional  power  to  do  so.  This  was 
the  most  important  political  event  after  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution.  It  nearly  doubled  the  domain  of 
the  United  States.  It  opened  immense  possibilities  not 
only  for  the  American  nation  but  also  for  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  and  it  greatly  increased  the  self-consciousness 
of  the  young  Republic. 

Then  the  English  aggressions  from  1803  to  1812 
helped  to  swell  the  current  of  nationality.  Even  in 
New  England  where  a  strong  sympathy  for  Old  Eng¬ 
land  had  served  to  cultivate  a  sort  of  sectionalism,  her 
chief  statesmen  were  nevertheless  all  arrayed  on  the 
side  of  the  national  policy.  The  War  of  1812  also 
greatly  promoted  the  national  spirit  and  when  in  1817 
Monroe  was  inaugurated  as  President  the  country  was 
at  the  full  tide  of  enthusiasm  for  nationality,  in  this 
respect  the  high-water  mark  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


The  National  Bank  had  been  re-estab¬ 
lished  with  more  than  three  times  the 
capital  and  authority  of  Hamilton’s 


The  “Era  of 
Good  Feeling 


Bank.  The  tariff  rates,  which  had  been  doubled  in 
1812  to  provide  war  revenue,  were  even  increased  in 
1816  for  protective  reasons.  Confident  pride  in  the 
growing  West  and  the  experience  of  the  war  led  Con¬ 
gress  to  vote  lavish  donations  of  public  money  for 
internal  improvements.  Chief  Justice  Marshall  in  his 
famous  decisions  interpreting  the  Constitution  con- 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


77 


sistently  rendered  verdicts  in  support  of  the  national 
authority  against  that  of  the  States.  A  striking  rebuke 
was  administered  to  the  political  grumblers  assembled 
at  Hartford,  and  for  years  the  fall  of  the  Federalist 
party  served  as  a  text  for  exhortations  to  national 
unity.  President  Monroe’s  tour  of  the  States  and  his 
cordial  reception  everywhere  stamped  the  period  as  the 
“era  of  good  feeling.” 


The  jangling  communities  of  the  preceding  century 
had  been  transformed  into  one  great  enthusiastic 
empire.  Instead  of  the  thirteen  diverse  and  isolated 
commonwealths  of  colonial  times  we  now  have  a  grow¬ 
ing  Union  of  States  that  have  released 
themselves  from  colonial  dependence  ^?lty  of 
on  a  transatlantic  power  and  have  be¬ 
come  conscious  through  common  perils,  victories  and 
hopes,  of  national  unity  and  life,  and  are  proceeding 
in  hearty  accord  to  ordain  institutes  of  national  gov¬ 
ernment  binding  on  all.  This  fact  profoundly  influ¬ 
enced  the  course  of  Church  History  in  this  period. 


Religiously  also  the  period  from  1790  to  1830  may 
fairly  enough  be  called  an  “era  of  good  feeling.”  This 
was  made  possible  by  the  great  change  that  had  oc¬ 
curred  in  the  status  of  the  churches 
when  the  Republic  was  founded.  The 
established  churches  of  colonial  times 
were  deprived  of  all  their  special  privi¬ 
leges  and,  with  a  few  exceptions  in  NewT  England, 
general  recognition  was  given  to  the  American  prin¬ 
ciple  of  the  non-interference  of  the  State  with  religion 


Separation  of 
Church  and 
State 


78  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


System  in 
Religion 


and  the  equality  of  all  religious  communions  before 
the  law. 

One  result  of  this  was  that  Old  World  animosities 
tended  to  disappear  and  the  American  denominations, 
compelled  to  live  on  the  same  level  of  privilege,  were 
thrown  upon  their  own  resources  of  faith  and  iove. 
Most  of  the  churches  made  the  transition  from  estab¬ 
lishment  to  the  voluntary  system  wdth 
The  Voluntary  very  little  difficulty  and  manifested  an 

amazing  degree  of  enterprise  and  zeal 
for  the  progress  of  God’s  Kingdom. 
In  Pennsylvania  the  voluntary  system  had  always  been 
practiced  and  no  great  change  was  necessary  in  the 
relations  between  Church  and  State,  but  the  numerous 
communion  of  Lutherans  in  that  State  did  not  fail  to 
catch  the  enthusiasm  for  practical  Christian  tasks  that 
swept  over  the  other  communions  in  this  period. 

Now  there  was  abundant  occasion  in  the  youth  of 
the  Republic  for  a  high  spirit  of  enterprise  and  enthu¬ 
siastic  practical  endeavor  on  the  part  of  all  the  Ameri¬ 
can  churches.  The  opportunities  for  service  were 
tremendous  and  there  was  no  need  for  denominational 
rivalry,  for  there  was  glory  enough  for  them  all.  It 
was  a  time  of  territorial  expansion  and  numerical 
growth.  The  vast  stretches  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
were  thrown  open  to  enterprising  settlers.  Immeasur¬ 
able  riches  of  forests  and  minerals  and  amazingly  pro¬ 
ductive  soils  quickly  drew  tens  of  thousands  of  families 
to  the  great  valley.  The  ambitious  project  of  a  French 
Catholic  empire  on  that  part  of  the  continent  had  long 
since  vanished  and  so  there  was  opened  to  the  American 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


79 


churches  an  immense  field  for  missionary  activity. 
While  the  territory  of  the  Republic  expanded  two-fold 
the  population  multiplied  more  than  three-fold,  from 
four  millions  in  1790  to  thirteen  mil¬ 
lions  in  1830.  Agricultural  communi-  Opp°rtunities 

for  Service 

ties  still  predominated  and  this  in¬ 
sured  that  social  democracy  kept  pace  with  political 
democracy.  But  there  was  a  striking  growth  in  city 
life:  from  only  six  towns  of  over  six  thousand  in  1790 
to  thirty-two  cities  of  over  eight  thousand  in  1830. 
This  meant  a  stimulus  to  intellectual  activity,  and  a 
national  literature  began  in  the  establishment  of  Niles’ 
Register  and  the  North  American  Review  and  in  the 
writings  of  such  men  as  Irving,  Cooper  and  Bryant. 

Thus  the  opportunities  and  problems  of  American 
Christianity  were  multiplied  manyfold  during  this 
period.  They  were  commonly  accepted  as  opportuni¬ 
ties  and  problems  peculiarly  American,  and  it  was  felt 
that  they  must  be  met  by  methods  peculiarly  American. 
This  developed  a  spirit  of  religious  and  ecclesiastical 
independence  from  Old  World  standards.  The  religious 
history  of  the  period,  therefore,  runs  exactly  parallel 
to  its  political  history.  Quite  naturally 
there  were  many  pioneer  methods  of  American 
church  work  and  numerous  religious 
makeshifts,  but  the  religious  life  of  the 
period  is  marked  everywhere  by  the  development  of 
American  self-consciousness  in  the  churches  and  the 
growth  of  the  spirit  of  co-operation  in  common  Chris¬ 
tian  tasks.  This  splendid  philanthropy  was  often 
marked  by  a  deplorable  degree  of  confessional  laxity 


Consciousness 
in  Religion 


80  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


and  distinct  losses  to  the  denominational  consciousness, 
yet  it  was  a  very  decided  improvement  upon  the  re¬ 
ligious  indifference  and  the  utter  moral  deterioration 
that  was  witnessed  by  the  two  rationalistic  decades 
following  the  Revolutionary  War. 

The  cause  of  this  change  is  undoubtedly  to  be  found 
in  the  evangelical  movement  and  the  wide-spread  re¬ 
vivals  that  marked  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  The  evangelical  movement  has  its  primary 
action  in  the  sphere  of  the  affections  and  its  normal 
result  is  a  clearer  perception  of  the  brotherhood  of 

man  and  new  zeal  in  the  varied  works 
The  Evangelical  Qf  Christian  love.  So  it  was  that  the 
Movement  Christians  of  the  early  nineteenth  cen¬ 

tury,  in  the  face  of  an  unprecedented  common  task, 
became  keenly  conscious  of  the  importance  of  what 
they  held  in  common  as  Christians,  as  contrasted  with 
what  they  held  severally  as  members  of  various  de¬ 
nominations.  Denominational  interests  occupied  them 
less;  Christian  and  Catholic  interests  occupied  them 
more.  The  following,  briefly,  are  the  facts. 

In  the  opening  year  of  the  century  (1801)  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterians  entered  into  the 
famous  “Plan  of  Union,”  a  compact  with  the  General 
Association  of  Congregationalists  of  Connecticut.  By 
this  agreement  the  difference  in  polity  between  these 
two  Churches  was  almost  forgotten  and  something  like 
organic  unity  was  achieved,  in  order  that  the  new 
settlements  of  the  westward  movement  might  be  saved 
from  local  schisms  and  might  be  able  to  present  full 
strength  against  real  foes.  A  few  years  later  a  new 


HOME 


MISSIONARIES 


Rev.  Johannes  Stauch 


Rev.  Paul  Ilenkel 


Ezra  Keller,  D.D. 


J.  C.  E.  Heyer,  M.L). 


Rev.  Michael  J.  Steck 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


81 


denomination  was  born  with  the  distinct  purpose  of 
protesting  against  schism  and  sectarianism  and 
with  the  avowed  aim  of  bringing  unity  among  the 
Christian  churches.  They  have  since 
become  a  separate  sect  known  as  the  Co-operation 

Disciples  of  Christ.  In  the  widespread  t™n°omi^tions 
revivals  of  those  years  the  Methodists 
and  Baptists  worked  hand  in  hand,  though  at  other 
points  they  were  thrown  into  sharp  competition.  And 
sometimes  both  Methodists  and  Baptists  enjoyed  the 
co-operation  of  the  Presbyterians  who  differed  from 
them  both  in  matters  which  they  all  considered  import¬ 
ant.  The  Episcopal  Church  began  to  practice  quite  com¬ 
monly  the  interchange  of  pulpits,  and  in  other  ways 
to  show  herself  in  full  sympathy  with  her  fellow- 
Christians.  Even  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  pro¬ 
foundly  influenced  by  the  spirit  of  devotion  to  common 
Christianity  and  manifested  a  startling  disposition  to 
obscure  or  obliterate  some  of  the  most  characteristic 
features  of  her  own  system.  Catholic  churches  were 
occasionally  used  for  Protestant  worship.  Catholic 
priests  and  bishops  actually  preached  to  Protestant 
congregations.  Jesuits  served  as  trustees  of  Protest¬ 
ant  colleges.  There  was  a  tendency  to  use  the  English 
language  exclusively  in  the  Roman  worship.  Lay 
“trusteeism”  was  quite  general  before  1830.  All  of 
which  indicates  a  friendly  feeling  on  the  part  of 
Catholics  towards  other  Christians  and  a  disposition 
to  act  'with  them  as  far  as  possible. 

Members  of  all  these  churches  which  we  have  men¬ 
tioned  except  the  Catholic  began  to  associate  them- 
6 


82  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


selves  early  in  the  century  for  various  forms  of  Chris¬ 
tian  philanthropy.  It  was  not  a  federation  of  Church 
bodies  but  only  an  organic  union  of  individual  Chris¬ 
tians  of  the  various  Protestant  denominations  for  the 
performance  of  the  high  offices  of  the  Church  uni¬ 
versal.  Such  organizations  were,  first 

Organized  0f  ap^  the  American  Bible  Society 

Philanthropy  .  ,  n  . 

(organized  1808),  then  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  (1810), 
the  American  Education  Society  (1813),  the  American 
Sunday  School  Union  (1824),  the  American  Tract 
Society  (1825),  the  Seamen’s  Friend  Society  (1826), 
and  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  (1826). 
These  organizations  were  inter-denominational  in  their 
scope,  and  that  so  many  of  them  date  their  birth  from 
this  period  is  striking  evidence  of  the  general  tendency. 

The  German-speaking  American  Church  in  its  two 
branches,  the  Lutheran  and  the  Reformed,  had  felt 
practically  nothing  of  the  Great  Awakening  of  1740, 
and  now  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
they  were  somewhat  slower  than  the  other  churches 
to  feel  the  quickening  evangelical  influences  that  swept 
over  the  other  churches  at  that  time.  This  was  due  in 

part  to  the  obstacles  interposed  by  the 
Lutherans  Feel  differences  of  language,  but  more 

Impulse  largely  to  their  intrinsic  conservatism 

of  doctrine  and  practice  and  to  their 
longer  period  of  training  in  the  methods  and  responsi¬ 
bilities  of  established  churches.  But  when  the  new 
American  impulse  did  begin  to  act  vigorously  upon 
them,  say  after  1810,  they  joined  in  the  evan- 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


83 


gelical  movement  with  intense  fervor  and  manifested 
great  zeal  in  co-operating  with  their  fellow  Christians 
in  the  works  of  Christian  love.  And  not  only  so,  but 
they  manifested  an  unusual  degree  of  confessional 
laxity  that  for  several  decades  threatened  to  obliterate 
the  historic  traits  which  had  marked  them  among 
Christians  for  almost  three  centuries.  This  belated 
movement  continued  in  force  long  beyond  1830.  It  was 
stronger  in  the  Lutheran  Church  than  in  the  Reformed. 
In  both  cases  it  signified  the  development  of  a  distinct 
American  life  in  the  churches  and  tended  to  separate 
them  from  European  connections,  and  while  this  de¬ 
livered  them  in  large  measure  from  the  open  dangers 
of  German  rationalism  in  that  period,  at  the  same  time 
it  subjected  them  to  the  more  insidious  danger  of 
American  unionism  and  called  for  decisive  measures 
of  internal  conservation. 


CHAPTER  IX 
EXPANSION 


Westward 

Expansion 


Causes  of 
Migration 


Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  the  youth  of  the  Republic  than  the  west¬ 
ward  expansion  of  her  population.  It 
raised  new  issues,  precipitated  new 
problems,  and  forced  her  to  new  forms 
of  activity.  The  lengthening  of  the  cords  called  for 
strengthening  of  the  stakes. 

The  extension  of  national  territory  and  the  founding 
of  new  States,  the  end  of  Indian  hostilities  and  the 

liberal  land  policy  of  Government,  the 
development  in  steam  navigation  and 
the  building  of  roads  and  canals,  gave 
a  strong  impulse  to  migration  from  the  older  settle¬ 
ments  in  the  East  to  the  inviting  valleys  of  the  Ohio 
and  the  Mississippi. 

Pennsylvania  was  particularly  active  in  internal 
improvements.  Millions  were  spent  in  that  State  to 
create  a  system  of  turnpikes  joining  the  eastern  parts 
of  the  commonwealth  with  the  western  parts  and  Ohio. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  Pennsylvanians,  including 

great  numbers  of  Lutherans,  crossed 
Successive  the  Alleghanies  and  settled  in  western 

Pennsylvania  and  in  central  Ohio,  In¬ 
diana  and  Illinois.  The  settlement 
took  place  in  successive  waves,  each  new  wave  pene¬ 
trating  farther  into  the  wilderness.  During  the  first 
decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  Ohio  grew  from  forty- 

84 


Waves  From 
Pennsylvania 


EXPANSION 


85 


Other  Lines 
of  Migration 


five  thousand  to  four  hundred  and  six  thousand,  and 
before  the  end  of  our  period  had  a  million  people.  In 
the  second  decade  Indiana  grew  from  twenty-four 
thousand  to  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  thousand, 
and  in  the  third  decade  Illinois  witnessed  a  similar 
growth. 

The  migration  followed  in  a  general  way  the  paral¬ 
lels  of  latitude.  While  the  Lutherans  of  Pennsylvania 
were  pouring  into  central  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois, 
those  of  Maryland  were  following  a 
similar  line  of  march  a  little  farther 
south,  those  of  New  York  were  follow¬ 
ing  the  line  of  the  Erie  Canal,  those  of  Virginia  were 
moving  into  southern  Ohio  and  Kentucky,  and  those 
of  the  Carolinas  were  pouring  into  Tennessee  or  find¬ 
ing  their  way  north  of  the  Ohio  River. 

As  the  hardy  Lutheran  pioneer  pressed  forward 
with  his  family  to  encamp  on  the  frontier  and  win  a 
home  for  his  children  and  at  the  same  time  to  engage 
in  the  great  American  epic  of  subduing  the  wilderness 
and  winning  a  continent  for  his  nation, 
he  carried  with  him  his  long  rifle  and 
his  well-poised  axe  and  usually  also 
his  Bible  and  his  faith.  Very  early  in  this  period, 
therefore,  calls  began  to  come  back  from  the  Lutherans 
on  the  frontier  asking  for  spiritual  help  and  inviting 
Lutheran  pastors  to  come  and  minister  to  them  in  ser¬ 
mon  and  sacrament. 

These  calls  met  a  response.  For  a  long  time  it  had 
been  the  custom  of  the  ministers  who  lived  nearest  to 
the  frontiers  to  undertake  missionary  tours  on  their 


Calls  for 
Spiritual  Help 


86  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


own  initiative  traveling  into  remote  districts,  gather¬ 
ing  together  the  scattered  members  of  the  Lutheran 
household,  preaching  the  Word  and  administering  the 
sacraments.  Then,  too,  a  great  volume  of  pioneer  work 

in  the  Lutheran  Church  west  of  the 

The  Response  a  n  i  •  j  , 

Alleghames  was  done  by  men  who  en¬ 
tered  the  field  as  “independent  preachers/'  without 
any  synodical  connection,  to  answer  the  call  of  the 
destitute  Lutheran  frontiersmen.  Such  were  Anton 
Liitge,  John  Stauch,  J.  M.  Steck,  S.  Muckenhaupt,  J.  C. 
Rebenach,  J.  Mechling,  J.  G.  Lampbrecht.  All  of  these 
men  afterwards  became  members  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Ministerium  or  the  Ohio  Synod.  Hundreds  of  flourish¬ 
ing  congregations  today  trace  their  beginnings  to  this 
sort  of  volunteer  missionary  effort.  But  this  work  of 
home  missions,  as  we  call  it  today,  was  officially  under¬ 
taken  by  the  Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania  in  1804. 
The  plan  of  the  synod,  as  it  went  into  effect  in  1806, 
provided  for  the  sending  out  of  two  or  three  men 
each  year  during  the  summer  months.  These  travel¬ 
ing  missionaries  were  members  of  the  synod,  were 
commissioned  and  paid  by  the  synod,  and  rendered 
their  reports  to  the  synod. 

One  of  the  eminent  names  among  these  earliest 
home  missionaries  is  that  of  Paul  Henkel.  Year  after 
year,  beginning  in  1810,  he  left  his  charge  at  New 
Market,  Virginia,  and  explored  and  supplied  the  thinly 
settled  parts  of  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Western  Virginia  and 
Pennsylvania.  His  diary  tells  of  his  contact  with  the 
camp-meetings  and  the  nervous  revival  epidemics  that 
burned  over  the  Cumberland  country  at  that  time.  An- 


EXPANSION 


87 


other  of  these  devoted  missionaries  was  John  Stauch. 
After  extensive  labors  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia  he  was 
commissioned  by  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium  in 
1793  and  began  a  remarkable  career  of  missionary 
work  in  the  western  part  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  and  especially  in  Ohio.  Still  an-  Henkel,  Stauch, 

StCCk 

other  energetic  home  missionary  of  this 
period  was  John  Michael  Steck.  His  son,  Michael  John, 
located  at  Lancaster,  Ohio,  in  1816  and  by  appointment 
of  the  Ministerium  made  extensive  missionary  tours. 
About  the  same  time  the  name  of  C.  F.  Heyer  appears 
on  the  list  of  these  traveling  missionaries,  and  he  car¬ 
ried  the  work  into  Indiana  and  Kentucky. 

These  and  many  other  indefatigable  and  self-denying 
servants  of  the  Church  helped  to  roll  the  wave  of 
missionary  operations  westward  abreast  with  the  gen¬ 
eral  expansion  of  population.  They  found  many  evi¬ 
dences  of  wickedness  and  spiritual 

destitution  on  the  frontier,  but  every-  Missionary 

Work 

where  they  found  pious  and  sincere 
Lutherans  maintaining  their  daily  devotions  in  their 
cabins,  hungering  after  righteousness  and  fervently 
praying  for  spiritual  shepherds.  These  they  gathered 
into  congregations  and  ministered  to.  But  the 
work  of  the  missionaries  was  sadly  weakened  by  the 
lack  of  pastors  with  whom  to  man  the  congregations 
they  organized. 

The  needs  of  the  home  mission  field 

were  greatly  increased  during  the  The  Heed 
w  Increases 

second  half  of  our  period.  After 

the  close  of  the  war  with  England  immigration  from 


88  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Europe,  particularly  from  Germany,  set  in  strongly 
again.  The  business  depression  in  the  East  sent  many 
of  these  immigrants  forward  to  the  inviting  farm  lands 
on  the  western  frontier.  In  this  way  the  missionary 
task  of  the  Lutheran  Church  was  vastly  augmented. 

The  numerical  increase  of  the  Church  during  this 
period,  though  not  so  striking  a  characteristic  as  her 
geographical  expansion,  nevertheless  kept  pace  with 
the  increase  of  the  general  population.  In  the  twenty- 
five  years  preceding  1800  the  Church  added  about  ten 
thousand  members  but  in  the  twenty-five  years  follow¬ 


ing  1800  she  added  more  than  twenty 
thousand,  so  that  by  the  year  1825 
there  were  nearly  forty-five  thousand 


Growth  of 
the  Church 


members  in  the  Lutheran  fold.  Large  numbers  of 
Lutherans  were  scattered  about  without  membership 
in  any  Church  and  without  any  kind  of  spiritual  over¬ 
sight.  They  had  severed  the  bonds  that  tied  them  to 
their  spiritual  guides  in  Europe  and  had  failed  to  form 
similar  bonds  in  America.  That  these  were  not  gath¬ 
ered  in  was  due  to  the  lack  of  men  to  organize  the 
congregations  and  become  their  pastors.  The  system 
of  traveling  missionaries  was  inadequate.  It  reached 
only  a  small  fraction  of  the  needy  and  its  ministrations 
were  very  irregular.  It  soon  became  evident  that  if 
the  Church  in  this  country  was  to  maintain  her  place 
in  the  spiritual  life  of  the  land  and  discharge  her  re¬ 
sponsibilities  to  her  own  people,  further  synodical 
organization  was  necessary. 

The  first  synod  to  be  organized  after  the  Ministerium 
of  Pennsylvania  was  the  New  York  Ministerium.  This 


EXPANSION 


89 


New  York 
Ministerium 


organization  took  place  before  Muhlenberg's  death. 
Already  in  1773  his  son  Frederick,  who  was  then  a 
pastor  in  New  York,  called  a  conference  of  all  the 
Lutheran  preachers  in  that  colony.  But  the  organiza¬ 
tion  thus  projected  did  not  begin  until  1786  when  J.  C. 
Kunze,  Muhlenberg’s  son-in-law,  succeeded  in  forming 
the  Ministerium.  The  first  meeting  was  held  at  Albany 
and  consisted  of  three  pastors  and  two  laymen.  The 
second  meeting  was  not  held  until  1792.  The  organi¬ 
zation  grew  very  slowly.  The  main  stream  of  German 
immigration  had  long  before  been  diverted  to  Penn¬ 
sylvania  and  did  not  return  to  New 
York.  Moreover,  the  up-State  pastors 
were  spiritual  heirs  of  Berkenmeyer 
and  cherished  an  aversion  to  everything  that  came 
from  Halle.  But  the  new  spirit  that  prevailed  after 
the  founding  of  the  Republic  permitted  rapid  growth 
of  the  Synod  and  before  Kunze’s  death  in  1807  it  num¬ 
bered  fourteen  pastors  on  its  roll.  The  efforts  of  this 
Synod  to  extend  its  work  northward  into  Canada  proved 
fruitless,  as  the  pastors  sent  thither  one  after  another 
left  the  Lutheran  Church  for  the  Episcopal  Church. 
Before  the  close  of  our  period,  however,  a  successful 
system  of  traveling  missionaries  was  introduced  and 
a  long  row  of  counties  in  the  central  and  northwestern 
parts  of  the  state  were  occupied. 

Shortly  after  the  turn  of  the  century  another  Luth¬ 
eran  Synod  came  into  being,  this  time  in  the  South. 
For  more  than  half  a  century  there  had  been  a  number 
of  Lutheran  settlements  in  North  Carolina.  Many  of 
these  Lutherans  had  come  from  Pennsylvania  but  some 


90  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


had  come  directly  from  Germany.  Pastors  had  been 
furnished  them  at  first  by  the  Consistory  of  Hanover  in 
Germany.  But  the  Revolutionary  War  cut  off  this 
source  of  ministerial  supply  and  soon  the  Lutherans 
of  North  Carolina  felt  the  necessity  of  some  kind  of 


organization  among  themselves  that 
would  not  be  under  any  foreign  super¬ 
vision  but  would  have  power  to  exam- 


North  Carolina 
Synod 


ine  and  ordain  men  to  the  ministerial  office.  When 
therefore  in  1800andl801  a  tide  of  fanatical  revivalism 
threatened  to  sweep  over  their  congregations,  the 
pastors  decided  to  form  an  organization  to  protect 
themselves  and  their  people  against  false  views  and 
practices.  The  result  was  the  North  Carolina  Synod, 
organized  at  Salisbury  in  1803  by  the  four  pastors, 
Arends,  Storch,  Miller  and  Paul  Henkel,  together  with 
fourteen  lay  delegates.  The  synod  soon  took  in  the 
ministers  and  churches  of  South  Carolina  and  Ten¬ 
nessee  and  southern  Virginia.  It  grew  rapidly  and 
before  1820  numbered  twenty-six  ministers  and  cate¬ 
chists,  about  sixty  congregations  and  more  than  six 
thousand  members.  Beginning  in  1810  this  synod, 
like  the  others,  appointed  each  year  a  home  missionary 
to  organize  into  congregations  the  scattered  Lutherans 
in  North  Carolina,  southern  Virginia,  Tennessee,  and 
South  Carolina.  It  thus  became  the  mother  of  all  the 
southern  synods. 

The  New  York  Ministerium  and  the  North  Carolina 
Synod  had  been  formed  without  making  a  breach  in 
the  ranks  of  the  Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania.  They 
were  constituted  of  congregations  that  lay  outside  the 


EXPANSION 


91 


bounds  of  the  Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania  and  with 

two  exceptions  their  pastors  had  not  been  connected 

with  the  old  synod.  But  the  fourth 

synod  to  be  organized  was  formed  on  Dividing  the 

the  territory  of  the  Ministerium  Pennsylvania 

Ministerium 

itself. 


As  the  missionaries  were  sent  out  year  after  year 
to  follow  the  westward  advance  of  the  American  fron¬ 
tier,  to  preach  the  Word  and  administer  the  Sacra¬ 
ments  to  the  Lutherans  in  “the  West”  and  “the  South,” 
as  they  took  up  their  permanent  abodes  farther  and 
farther  from  Philadelphia  and  eastern  Pennsylvania, 
it  became  increasingly  difficult  for  these  missionaries 
and  pastors  to  make  the  long  journeys  that  would  have 
been  necessary  to  attend  the  meetings  of  the  original 
synod.  Still  they  longed  to  take  counsel  with  their 
brethren  and  to  have  a  part  in  the  deliberations  for  the 
general  good.  The  Ministerium  therefore  had  early 
established  “Special  or  District  Meet¬ 
ings”  at  which  the  pastors  and  laymen  Jhe  °hl° 

Synod 

of  a  particular  region  could  meet  as 
often  as  they  desired  for  mutual  edification  and  for 
counsel  on  certain  subjects.  In  1801  the  Ministerium 
had  provided  for  seven  such  special  conference  dis¬ 
tricts.  The  “Western  District”  embraced  all  the  terri¬ 
tory  west  of  Chambersburg.  In  1812  the  Lutheran 
pastors  in  Ohio  organized  their  own  conference.  In 
1817  they  asked  permission  to  establish  their  own 
ministerium.  It  was  felt  that  this  was  necessary  in 
order  to  secure  candidates  for  the  ministry  and  in 
order  to  stimulate  interest  among  the  congregations 


92  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

and  bring  about  a  more  rapid  development  of  their 
resources.  The  request  was  not  granted  but  permis¬ 
sion  was  given  to  license  candidates  for  one  year.  But 
the  next  year  the  Ohio  Conference  quietly  organized 
itself  into  the  “Synod  of  Ohio  and  Adjacent  States,” 
and  proceeded  to  ordain  three  men  to  the  ministry. 
The  first  president  of  the  new  synod  was  the  merited 
missionary  Stauch,  and  the  first  secretary  was  Paul 
Henkel,  who  had  traversed  all  of  Ohio  in  a  two-wheeled 
cart.  The  new  body  numbered  at  first  fourteen  min¬ 
isters  and  eight  lay  delegates.  The  organization  is 
known  today  as  the  “Joint  Synod  of  Ohio  and  Other 
States.” 

But  the  constituency  of  the  body  was  completely 
changed  after  a  generation.  The  elements  that  had 
formed  the  Synod  of  Ohio  in  1818  separated  from  the 
body  during  the  middle  period  of  the  nineteenth  cen¬ 
tury  and  formed  other  synods  in  that  state,  so  that 
today  only  the  historic  organization  and  not  the  present 
constituency  of  the  “Joint  Synod”  can  be  traced  to  a 
“Special  Conference”  of  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium. 
The  spiritual  descendants  of  the  original  “Synod  of 
Ohio  and  Adjacent  States”  are  today  embraced  in  the 
Ohio  Synod  of  the  United  Lutheran  Church. 

The  Synod  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  organized  in 
1820,  also  grew  out  of  one  of  the  “Special  Conferences” 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium.  This  Conference 
had  met  at  various  places  in  Virginia  since  1793.  But 
that  kind  of  organization  proved  inadequate  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  growing  Lutheran  population  of 
Maryland  and  the  Virginia  Valley.  When,  therefore, 


EXPANSION 


93 


the  pastors  of  Maryland  and  Virginia  asked  permis¬ 
sion  to  organize  a  new  synod  on  their  territory  the 
Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania  granted 
the  request  in  view  of  the  immediate  Synod  of 

prospect  of  a  more  inclusive  fraternity  Mai7*and  . 

1  ^  and  Virginia 

to  be  known  as  the  General  Synod.  The 
organization  took  place  at  Winchester,  Virginia,  in 
October,  1820. 

Three  months  before  that  the  Tennessee  Synod  had 
been  formed  by  four  of  the  pastors  of  the  North  Caro¬ 
lina  Synod.  The  founders  of  this  organization,  two 
of  whom  were  sons  of  Paul  Henkel, 
could  not  agree  with  their  synodical  Tennessee 

brethren  on  the  question  of  licensing 
clergymen,  and  because  of  the  laxity  in  doctrine  and 
practice  in  the  older  synods  they  strongly  objected  to 
the  forming  of  a  General  Synod.  So  they  withdrew 
and  organized  their  own  synod. 

In  1824  another  division  took  place  in  the  ranks  of 
the  North  Carolina  Synod.  This  time  in  peace  and 
brotherly  love  the  pastors  and  churches  in  South  Caro¬ 
lina  withdrew  and  formed  the  South 
Carolina  Synod.  The  next  year  a 
number  of  pastors  serving  churches  in 
Pennsylvania  west  of  the  Susquehanna 
River,  without  the  consent  of  the  Min¬ 
isterium  of  Pennsylvania,  organized  themselves  into 
the  West  Pennsylvania  Synod  in  time  to  attend  the 
meeting  of  the  General  Synod  that  year.  Still  another 
synod  dating  its  origin  in  this  period  is  the  Virginia 
Synod.  In  1829  eight  of  the  pastors  belonging  to  the 


South  Carolina, 
West  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  and 
Virginia  Synods 


94  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Maryland  Synod  but  serving  churches  in  Virginia  re¬ 
sponded  to  the  special  needs  of  their  churches  and 
proceeded  in  a  most  friendly  spirit  to  organize  their 
own  synod. 

This  progressive  formation  of  new  synods  was  very 
tangible  evidence  of  the  expansion  of  the  Church  in 
this  country.  It  was  in  reality  a  further  development 
of  Muhlenberg’s  organization  and  at  the  same  time 
an  expression  of  the  new  spirit  of  the  times,  the  spirit 
of  American  aggressiveness  and  independence  from 


Europe.  It  took  place  for  the  most 
part  in  peace  and  amity  and  it  resulted 
in  much  greater  efficiency  in  the 


Significance  of 
New  Synods 


Church  as  a  whole,  establishing  one  after  another  new 
centers  of  light  and  power  and  occupying  one  after 
another  the  new  territories  reached  by  geographical 
expansion.  Then,  too,  this  process  of  multiplying 
synodical  organizations  logically  pointed  forward  to 
some  more  inclusive  union  in  the  Church  that  would 
unify  the  parts  in  the  interest  of  conservation  and 
would  overcome  the  division  and  weakening  effects  that 
might  have  resulted  from  the  synodical  movement. 


CHAPTER  X 
PROBLEMS 


With  the  steady  expansion  of  her  borders  and  the 
rapid  increase  in  her  numbers  the  Lutheran  Church 
in  the  early  days  of  the  Republic  found  herself  seri¬ 
ously  confronted,  as  we  have  seen,  with  the  age-long 
problem  of  men  for  the  ministry.  But  even  more  seri¬ 
ous  than  this  were  several  problems  growing  out  of 
internal  conditions  in  the  Church.  These  sadly  inter¬ 
fered  with  her  peace  and  progress  and  at  times  threat¬ 
ened  her  very  life. 

First,  there  was  the  problem  of  rationalism.  The 
close  contact  of  America  with  France  during  the  Revo¬ 
lutionary  War  and  during  the  making  of  the  nation 
left  a  deposit  of  rationalistic  thought  among  Americans 
that  perpetuated  itself  far  into  the  youth  of  the  Re¬ 
public.  The  Lutherans  did  not  escape  the  infection. 
Then,  too,  the  spirit  of  rationalism 
had  crept  into  Halle  and  the  other  Ger¬ 
man  universities,  and  before  Muhlenberg’s  death  there 
came  to  America  a  group  of  Lutheran  ministers  who 
knew  not  Spener  and  Francke  and  Muhlenberg.  The 
results  were  evident  in  the  Church.  More  than  one 
generation  was  required  to  sever  completely  these  ties 
of  European  thought  and  blot  out  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  America  the  last  vestiges  of  unevangelical 
theology. 

In  1792  the  constitution  of  the  Pennsylvania  Minis- 
terium  was  revised.  All  references  to  the  Lutheran 

95 


Rationalism 


96  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


confessions  were  stricken  out.  The  more  prominent 
members  of  the  Ministerium  were  outspoken  in  their 
Lutheranism,  but  the  omission  from  the  constitution 
of  all  mention  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  and  the 
other  symbolical  books  was  a  striking  concession  to 
the  unevangelical  spirit  of  the  times.  The  candidates 
for  ordination  were  pledged  only  to  preach  the  Word 
of  God  in  its  purity,  according  to  law  and  Gospel  as 

presented  in  the  catechism  and  hymn- 
In  Pennsylvania  ,  ,  ^  ~ 

book.  The  constitutions  of  the  congre¬ 
gations  remained  unchanged,  but  some  very  pro¬ 
nounced  forms  of  rationalism  were  current  in  the  rural 
districts  of  the  Ministerium.  There  was  no  express 
antagonism  to  the  distinctive  Lutheran  doctrines  but 
a  general  toning  down  of  Lutheran  convictions  and 
many  inconsistencies  with  sound  Lutheran  practice. 
Even  from  the  young  congregations  in  Ohio  came  com¬ 
plaints  that  their  pastors  were  not  faithful  to  the  old 
Lutheran  doctrine.  This  spirit  continued  throughout 
this  period. 

In  New  York  the  infection  of  rationalism  was  felt 
much  more  strongly  than  in  Pennsylvania.  This  was 
largely  due  to  the  great  influence  of  Dr.  Quitman. 
While  Dr.  Kunze  lived  he  stood  at  the  helm  in  the  New 
York  Ministerium  and  the  spirit  of  unbelief  was  held 
in  abeyance.  Dr.  Kunze  was  the  most  learned  and 
influential  man  in  the  whole  Church.  He  was  very 
active  in  training  men  for  the  ministry.  In  1804  he 
wrote  to  his  brethren  in  Pennsylvania  that  he  thought 
no  member  of  his  synod  would  deny  the  Redeemer,  but 
that  some  of  them  gave  him  reason  for  apprehension. 


PROBLEMS 


97 


In  New  York 


But  three  years  later  Dr.  Kunze  died  and  Dr.  Quitman 
became  president  of  the  New  York  Ministerium  and 
so  continued  for  twenty-one  years.  Quitman  was  a 
disciple  of  SemJer  in  Halle  and  was  a  thorough-going 
rationalist.  In  1812  he  prepared  an  English  catechism 
as  a  substitute  for  Luther’s.  It  was  published  with 
the  consent  and  approval  of  the  synod. 

It  denied  the  inspiration  and  authority 
of  the  Bible  and  set  at  nought  all  the  main  doctrines 
of  the  Lutheran  Confessions  and  the  Apostles’  Creed. 
A  few  years  later  he  published  a  hymnal  and  liturgy. 
This  also  was  un-Lutheran  and  un-evangelical  through¬ 
out,  but  it  was  officially  accepted  by  the  synod.  Quit- 
man  was  a  man  of  commanding  presence  and  great  in¬ 
tellectual  force,  and  as  president  of  the  synod  and 
instructor  of  ministerial  candidates  he  scattered  seeds 
of  rationalism  that  could  not  be  entirely  uprooted  for 
more  than  half  a  century.  But  his  skillful  effort  to 
Americanize  German  rationalism  was  heroically  par¬ 
ried  by  some  of  the  younger  and  more  evangelical 
spirits  of  the  New  York  Ministerium.  The  Quitman 
Catechism  did  not  sell.  A  new  English  edition  of 
Luther’s  Catechism  was  issued  and  widely  introduced. 
New  leadership  was  provided,  and  before  the  end  of 
this  period  the  European  spirit  of  scepticism  and  un¬ 
belief  was  exorcised  from  the  New  York  Ministerium. 

In  North  Carolina  also  the  same  problem  had  to  be 
met.  Many  of  the  Lutherans  there  had  come  from  the 
rural  districts  of  Pennsylvania.  Long  before  the 
organization  of  the  synod  the  pastors  of  North  Caro¬ 
lina  had  secured  the  publication  of  the  “Helmstaedt 
7 


98  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Catechism”  of  Dr.  Velthusen.  This  was  used  for  many 
years  in  North  Carolina  and  was  known  as  the  “North 
Carolina  Catechism.”  It  was  full  of  the  spirit  of  Ger¬ 
man  rationalism,  and  the  consequence  was  that  the 
Lutheran  consciousness  of  the  people  in  that  state  be¬ 
came  confused  and  blurred.  When  the 

Carolina1  Synod  was  organized  in  1803  neither 

pastors  nor  laymen  felt  any  necessity 
for  a  confessional  statement  and  the  constitution  of  the 
synod  did  not  contain  the  word  Lutheran  or  any  direct 
mention  of  the  confessional  writings  of  the  Church. 
Quitman’s  rationalistic  liturgy  was  officially  recom¬ 
mended  to  the  congregations  using  English  and  for  the 
Germans  the  work  of  the  German  rationalist  Seiler  was 
used.  But  this  synod  soon  caught  the  spirit  of  American 
independence  and  freed  itself  from  European  neology 
more  rapidly  than  its  northern  neighbors.  It  was  the 
first  synod  since  Muhlenberg’s  time  to  make  official 
avowal  of  the  Augsburg  Confession.  This  it  did  in  the 
new  constitution  of  1818  and  it  is  significant  that  this 
constitution  also  provided  that  only  ministers  ordained 
or  licensed  by  a  synod  in  the  United  States  could  be  ad¬ 
mitted  to  the  Synod  of  North  Carolina. 

The  second  problem  that  vexed  the  Church  in  the 
youth  of  the  Republic  was  unionism.  This  was  the 
religious  counterpart  of  the  national  spirit.  The  gen¬ 
eral  tendency  among  the  American  Churches  to  oblit¬ 
erate  historic  traits  and  to  cultivate  closer  relations 
with  others  left  its  marks  on  the  Lutheran  Church  also. 
The  spirit  of  unionism  was  partly  the  offspring  of 
religious  indifference.  Rationalism  had  shattered  con- 


PROBLEMS 


99 


fessional  convictions,  and  the  points  of  difference 
among  the  denominations  were  obscured.  Intellectual 
indolence  and  motives  of  expediency 

.  .  ,  .  n  .  .  ,.  Unionism 

also  played  their  part  m  the  umomstic 
movement.  In  that  day  of  great  religious  torpor  when 
the  ministry  itself  was  poorly  educated  and  largely 
secularized,  union  with  other  church  bodies  seemed 
the  line  of  least  resistance.  The  widespread  revival  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century  also  had  much  to  do  with 
it.  Even  so  staunch  a  Lutheran  as  Paul  Henkel  had 
to  be  warned  against  participating  in  camp-meetings 
on  his  missionary  tours.  But  doubtless  the  strongest 
factor  in  deadening  the  self-consciousness  of  the  Luth¬ 
eran  Church  and  overcoming  her  intrinsic  conserva¬ 
tism  of  doctrine  and  practice  was  the  infectious  spirit 
of  general  good-wTill  and  co-operation  that  was  so  evi¬ 
dent  in  the  growing  young  nation  and  in  all  its  parts. 
It  was  an  “era  of  good  feeling”  and  both  Church  and 
nation  showed  remarkable  zeal  in  obliterating  all  dif¬ 
ferences  among  their  constituent  elements  and  empha¬ 
sizing  the  features  and  interests  common  to  all.  For 
the  Lutheran  Church  it  meant  the  decline  of  her  de¬ 
nominational  consciousness,  and  for  a  time  the  new 
American  impulse  to  union  threatened  the  very  exist¬ 
ence  of  the  Church  in  this  country. 

In  New  York  the  tendency  was  towards  union  with 
the  Episcopal  Church.  Even  Dr.  Kunze  fell  under  the 
charm  of  the  idea  and  in  1797  it  was  resolved  that  on 
account  of  “the  intimate  relation  subsisting  between 
the  English  Episcopal  and  Lutheran  churches,  the 
identity  of  their  doctrine  and  the  near  approach  of 


100  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

their  discipline,”  the  Ministerium  of  New  York  would 

never  acknowledge  a  new  Lutheran 

In  New  York  ^  ,  .  ,  ,  ,  . 

Church  m  places  where  her  members 
could  partake  of  the  services  of  an  Episcopal  Church. 
Negotiations  were  begun  looking  towards  organic 
union  of  the  two  bodies  and  episcopal  ordination  of 
the  Lutheran  pastors.  The  negotiations  were  not  com¬ 
pleted  but  a  number  of  individual  congregations  went 
over  from  the  Lutheran  to  the  Episcopal  Church.  There 
was  great  need  for  closer  union  among  the  Lutherans 
themselves  to  stimulate  their  denominational  con¬ 
sciousness  and  save  the  life  of  their  Church. 

In  Pennsylvania  union  was  projected  with  the  Re¬ 
formed  Church.  Many  of  the  church  buildings  in  the 
rural  districts  of  that  state  had  been  erected  by  the 
common  enterprise  of  Lutheran  and  Reformed  people. 
In  not  a  few  instances  the  congregations  worshipping, 
in  the  same  building  were  united  under  one  church 
council  and  merely  alternated  their  services  between 
Lutheran  and  Reformed  pastors.  Lutherans  and  Re¬ 
formed  co-operated  in  managing  the  affairs  of  Frank¬ 
lin  College  at  Lancaster  and  they  had  no  compunctions 
about  permitting  a  Catholic  priest  to  be  included 
among  the  trustees.  The  religious  magazine  founded 
by  the  Ministerium  in  1812  made  a  special  bid  for 

Reformed  and  Moravian  subscribers. 
In  Pennsylvania  jn  1817  appeared  the  “Common 

Hymn-Book”  in  German  which  took  the  place  of  the 
Muhlenberg  Hymnal,  was  endorsed  by  Dr.  Quitman, 
and  was  recommended  by  both  the  Lutheran  and  Re¬ 
formed  Synods  in  Pennsylvania.  The  next  year  active 


PROBLEMS 


101 


efforts  were  afoot  among  these  two  churches  to  estab¬ 
lish  a  Joint  Theological  Seminary,  and  many  ministers 
in  both  churches  favored  the  organic  union  of  the  two 
bodies.  It  may  be  that  this  trend  towards  union  among 
these  two  conservative  German-speaking  bodies  was 
partly  due  to  their  common  reaction  against  rational¬ 
istic  influences,  but  more  weighty  were  the  motives 
of  expediency  growing  out  of  intermarriage,  propin¬ 
quity,  and  a  common  language,  and  the  fact  that  the 
vast  majority  of  people  and  pastors  knew  little  and 
cared  less  about  the  questions  at  issue  between  them. 

The  North  Carolina  Synod  reflected  the  unionistic 
tendencies  both  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York.  Union 
churches  for  Lutherans  and  Reformed  were  common 
among  the  Germans  in  the  territory  of  that  synod, 
and  “common”  hymn-books  and  catechisms  were  in  use 
among  the  congregations.  In  a  book  prepared  to  cele¬ 
brate  the  tercentenary  of  the  Refor¬ 
mation  in  1817,  Pastor  Schober,  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  synod,  explained 
the  articles  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  in  a  Reformed 
sense  and  declared  that  among  all  the  denominations 
of  “those  who  worship  Jesus  as  God  there  is  nothing 
to  prevent  a  hearty  union.”  This  book  was  endorsed 
and  published  by  the  synod.  Moreover,  the  Lutheran 
Synod  fraternized  closely  with  the  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  South  and  both  Episcopalians  and  Moravians 
officiated  frequently  for  Lutheran  congregations. 

In  the  third  decade  of  the  century,  for  reasons  that 
will  appear  later,  the  tendency  among  Lutherans  to 
lose  their  identity  and  merge  with  other  Churches 


In  North 
Carolina 


102  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


began  to  decline  and  the  younger  synods  organized 
after  the  second  decade  did  not  feel  it  much. 

But  there  was  a  third  difficulty  that  impaired  the 
progress  of  the  Church  in  this  period.  It  was  the 
language  problem.  The  polyglot  character  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  the  world  has  been  the  cause  of 
just  pride  to  Lutherans,  but  the  polyglot  character  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  in  America  has  been  the  cause 
of  many  dark  pages  in  her  history.  Muhlenberg,  as 
we  have  seen,  preached  in  whatever  language  the 
people  could  best  understand,  and  for  that  purpose 

mastered  and  used  three  languages. 
The^Language  The  generation  that  inherited  his 

spirit  followed  the  same  policy.  Dr. 
Kunze  was  quite  active  in  preparing  literature  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  English-speaking  parts  of  the  Church. 
But  with  the  development  of  the  national  American 
spirit  in  the  youth  of  the  Republic  the  process  of  angli¬ 
cizing  the  Church  became  much  more  rapid,  and  the 
conscious  efforts  to  sever  the  linguistic  ties  that  bound 
them  to  Germany  excited  intense  feeling  at  many  points 
during  this  period. 

Those  who  resisted  the  anglicizing  current  of  the 
times  were  entrenched  in  the  congregational  and 
synodical  organizations  and  the  result  was  much  bitter 
strife  and  great  losses  to  the  Church.  The  Synod  in 
Pennsylvania  changed  its  name  in  1792,  and  introduced 
the  word  “German”  into  its  title.  In  1805  at  German¬ 
town  it  took  action  forbidding  the  use  of  any  other 
language  than  German  in  synodical  sessions.  But  the 
English-speaking  part  of  the  congregation  of  St. 


PROBLEMS 


103 


Michael’s  in  Philadelphia,  led  by  General  Peter  Muh¬ 
lenberg,  demanded  that  a  third  pastor  be  called  who 
could  officiate  in  English.  By  a  nar¬ 
row  margin  in  a  congregational  vote  Severing 
,,  .  ,  j.  ,  ,  Language  Ties 

their  proposition  was  deteated. 

Thereupon  they  founded  St.  John’s  English  Lutheran 
Church.  Ten  years  later  the  controversy  broke  out 
afresh  in  the  same  congregation.  This  time  it  was 
carried  into  the  courts,  and  this  time  the  German 
party  lost.  The  argument  that  seems  to  have  con¬ 
vinced  the  court  was  based  on  the  necessity  of  culti¬ 
vating  the  American  spirit  and  the  futility  of  depend¬ 
ing  on  the  immigration  of  a  “turbid  current”  of  aliens 
for  the  future  progress  of  any  Church  in  the  Republic. 
The  times  were  not  favorable  to  the  maintenance  of 
national  distinctions. 

Other  sections  of  the  Church  experienced  the  same 
trouble.  At  Lancaster  Dr.  H.  E.  Muhlenberg’s  congre¬ 
gation  refused  to  contribute  to  the  synodical  treasury 
until  young  men  should  be  educated  to  preach  in  Eng¬ 
lish.  In  the  congregations  in  the  New  York  Minis- 
terium  English  gained  the  ascendency  more  rapidly 
than  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  1807  became  the  official 
language  of  the  body.  Very  similar  was  the  course 
of  affairs  in  the  South. 

Some  of  the  arguments  made  in  the  course  of  the 
controversies  on  the  language  question  seem  amazing 
when  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  developments  in  the 
last  century.  The  Lutheran  Church,  it  was  said,  can¬ 
not  exist  apart  from  the  German  language.  The  Eng¬ 
lish  language  is  the  language  of  the  Episcopal  and 


104  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Amazing 

Arguments 


Presbyterian  Churches  and  is  too 
shallow  to  furnish  an  adequate  trans¬ 
lation  of  Lutheran  doctrinal  and  devo¬ 


tional  literature.  It  was  observed  that  the  children 
of  German  parents,  as  they  learned  to  speak  English, 
became  frivolous  and  indifferent  in  matters  of  religion. 
Then,  too,  much  of  the  rationalism  that  made  its  way 
into  the  Lutheran  Church  in  our  country  clothed  itself 
in  the  English  language,  and  for  that  reason  many 
good  people  regarded  the  German  as  the  bulwark  of 
sound  faith  and  evangelical  theology.  For  example, 
the  “Evangelisches  Magazin,”  established  by  the  Penn¬ 
sylvania  Ministerium  in  1812,  had  the  two-fold  purpose 
of  “conserving  the  German  language  and  fighting 
rationalistic  unbelief.” 

These  persistent  efforts  to  withstand  the  introduc¬ 
tion  of  English,  so  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  Luther 

and  so  opposed  to  the  policy  of  the 
Losses  Due  to  Muhlenbergs,  alienated  some  of  the 


Language 


best  friends  of  the  Lutheran  Church 


and  drove  thousands  of  young  people  into  the  churches 
of  other  denominations,  so  that  many  of  the  strongest 
Presbyterian,  Episcopalian  and  Methodist  churches  of 
today  owe  their  origin  to  this  fact. 

Such  were  the  internal  problems  with  which  the 
Church  had  to  deal  in  severing  European  ties.  Some 


of  them  were  fraught  with  possibili¬ 
ties  of  death.  In  the  providence  of 
God  they  were  all  solved  in  course 


The  Problems 
Solved 


of  time.  Their  proper  solution  meant  the  permanence 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  her  own  identity  in  this 


PROBLEMS 


105 


country.  The  bonds  that  tied  American  Lutherans  to 
European  rationalism  were  severed.  Religious  indif- 
ferentism  ceased.  Unionism  vanished  or  ceased  to 
threaten.  Gradually,  though  reluctantly  in  many 
quarters,  the  use  of  English  as  the  language  of  the 
nation  came  to  be  accepted  as  a  fact.  The  Church 
returned  to  her  own  never  again  to  accept  the  theo¬ 
logical  dictates  from  abroad. 


CHAPTER  XI 

A  GENERAL  ORGANIZATION 


As  the  American  nation  expanded,  the  newly  formed 
States  and  Territories  were  bound  to  the  older  States 
and  to  each  other  by  the  Federal  Government.  This 
was  at  once  the  cause  and  the  effect  of  the  spirit  of 
common  nationality  so  strongly  manifest  in  the  youth 
of  the  Republic.  Likewise  in  the  Lutheran  Church 
in  this  period,  geographical  expansion  and  the  progres¬ 
sive  organization  of  new  synods  logically  called  for 

some  genera]  organization  that  would 

The  Need  .  , 

answer  to  the  sense  ot  unity  and  com¬ 
mon  brotherhood  that  still  existed  among  Lutherans. 
Such  an  organization  was  demanded  by  the  times  in 
order  to  overcome  the  divisive  effects  of  the  synodical 
movement,  to  conserve  the  denominational  conscious¬ 
ness,  and  to  prevent  absorption  in  more  compact 
Church  bodies.  Moreover,  the  acute  need  for  more 
men  and  better  trained  men  in  the  ministry  called  for 
common  action.  What  was  more  natural  than  for  the 
Lutherans  of  America  as  they  loosened  the  ties  of 
relationship  with  Europe  to  seek  closer  relations 
among  themselves? 

The  initiative  came  from  the  mother  Synod  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania.  It  was  in  1818,  just  after  the  tercentenary 
of  the  Reformation,  that  the  first  move  was  made.  The 
New  York  Ministerium  and  the  North  Carolina  Synod 
were  at  that  time  the  only  synods  outside  of  the  Penn¬ 
sylvania  Ministerium.  But  there  were  prospects  of 

106 


A  GENERAL  ORGANIZATION 


107 


A  “Plan 
of  Union” 


territorial  divisions  within  the  Pennsylvania  Minis- 
terium.  The  Ohio  Conference  was  taking  steps  to¬ 
wards  organizing  a  new  synod,  and  similar  action 
seemed  probable  on  the  part  of  the  Conference  of 
Maryland  and  Virginia,  the  Conference  of  West  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  and  even  the  Lancaster  Con¬ 
ference.  Accordingly  the  Ministerium 
acted  upon  a  suggestion  that  had  been 
made  seven  years  before  by  the  Lutherans  of  North 
Carolina  who  felt  the  weakness  of  Lutheran  organiza¬ 
tion  as  compared  with  the  compact  organization  of 
the  Episcopal  Church.  It  resolved  that  “in  its  judg¬ 
ment  it  would  be  well  if  the  different  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Synods  in  the  United  States  were  to  stand,  in 
some  way  or  other,  in  true  union  with  one  another.”  At 
the  next  meeting  “A  Proposed  Plan”  of  union  was 
adopted  and  ordered  to  be  submitted  to  the  other 
synods. 

The  convention  for  the  organization  of  a  General 
Synod  was  held  in  Hagerstown,  Maryland,  October  22, 
1820.  Representatives  were  present  from  four  synods, 
Pennsylvania,  New  York,  North  Carolina  and  Mary¬ 
land  and  Virginia.  Only  Ohio  and  Tennessee  were 
not  represented.  The  pastors  of  the  Ohio  Synod 
objected  to  the  general  organization  because  they 
feared  a  hierarchical  trend  and  the 
possible  prevalence  of  the  English  lan-  A  General 

guage  in  the  new  body.  They  had  organized 
doubtless  observed  that  the  strength¬ 
ening  of  the  Federal  Government  of  the  nation  was 
taking  place  at  the  expense  of  the  powers  of  the  States. 


108  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


The  little  Tennessee  Synod  also  objected  to  the  rule 
of  majorities  in  general  Church  affairs  and  to  the 
fact  that  no  mention  was  made  of  the  Bible  or  the 
Augsburg  Confession.  But  the  four  synods  represented 
organized  and  drew  up  a  constitution.  A  year  later, 
October,  1821,  three  of  the  four  Synods  having  adopted 
the  constitution,  all  except  New  York,  the  General 
Synod  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  the  United  States 
held  its  first  regular  convention  at  Frederick,  Mary¬ 
land. 

The  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  general  body  are  evi¬ 
dent  from  the  constitution  and  the  proceedings  of  the 
first  convention.  It  is  specified  that  the  General  Synod 
may  propose  to  the  District  Synods  “books  and  writ¬ 
ings  such  as  catechisms,  forms  of  liturgy,  collections 
of  hymns,  or  confessions  of  faith,”  but  it  specifically 
disclaims  the  “power  of  prescribing  uniform  ceremo¬ 
nies  of  religion.”  It  provides  for  the  organization  of 
new  District  Synods  with  the  consent  of  the  general 
body.  The  General  Synod  has  power  to  advise  on 
disputed  points  of  doctrine  or  discipline  when  cases 


are  appealed  to  it  by  individuals,  con¬ 
gregations  or  synods.  It  is  also  author¬ 
ized  to  devise  plans  for  seminaries  of 


Its  Spirit 
and  Purpose 


education  and  missionary  institutions  as  well  as  to 
provide  aid  for  ministers  and  their  families,  and  to 
take  measures  to  “promote  the  practice  of  brotherly 
love  and  the  furtherance  of  Christian  concord.”  All 
this  represented  only  a  slight  surrender  of  sovereignty 
on  the  part  of  the  individual  synods  and  ministeriums. 
It  aimed  only  to  effect  such  a  federation  of  Lutheran 


A  GENERAL  ORGANIZATION 


109 


Its  First 
Convention 


bodies  as  would  prevent  discord  and  schisms  among 
them  and  would  provide  the  means  and  agencies  neces¬ 
sary  to  foster  the  spirit  of  Lutheran  unity,  to  occupy 
the  field  more  efficiently,  and  to  fortify  the  Church’s 
ranks  against  dissipation. 

The  first  business  convention  of  the  General  Synod 
in  1821  proceeded  to  carry  out  the  purposes  for  which 
it  was  organized.  Among  the  various  actions  was  one 
concerning  a  theological  seminary.  Already  at  the 
organization  meeting  in  1820  a  committee  had  been 
appointed  to  form  a  plan  for  such  an  institution.  In 
1821  action  was  taken  deferring  for  several  years  the 
actual  establishment  of  the  Seminary, 
but  recommending  that  in  the  mean¬ 
time  the  congregations  be  prepared 
for  the  enterprise  and  that  books  be  gathered  for  the 
library  of  the  institution.  The  subject  of  home  mis¬ 
sions  was  also  considered  and  it  was  earnestly  recom¬ 
mended  to  the  several  district  synods  that  they  send 
missionaries  to  answer  ‘The  earnest  calls  of  the  chil¬ 
dren  of  the  Church  and  others,  resident  on  our  frontier 
countries.”  From  these  and  other  actions  looking  to¬ 
wards  the  intensive  occupation  of  the  field  ancf  the 
supply  of  an  educated  ministry  for  the  Church,  it 
was  evident  that  the  General  Synod,  even  in  its  small 
beginnings,  was  organized  for  action  and  intended  to 
face  aggressively  the  tasks  confronting  the  whole 
Church. 

The  organization  of  the  General  Synod  assured  the 
independence  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country. 
It  was  fundamentally  opposed  to  the  schemes  of  union 


110  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Its  Influence 


with  the  Reformed  in  Pennsylvania  and  with  the  Epis¬ 
copalians  in  North  Carolina  and  elsewhere.  It  operated 
as  an  emphatic  protest  against  the  rationalistic  tend¬ 
encies  in  New  York  and  other  parts  of  the  Church, 
and  presented  an  effectual  barrier  to  the  further  im¬ 
portation  into  the  Church  of  European  deistic  the¬ 
ology.  It  saved  the  Church  from  becoming  rationalized 
as  she  became  anglicized  and  Americanized.  It  main¬ 
tained  the  historical  connection  with  the  fathers  and 
stood  for  the  confession  of  a  positive  faith.  Its  first 

constitution,  it  is  true,  did  not  mention 
the  Lutheran  Confessions,  else  it  would 
not  have  been  adopted  by  the  constituent  synods.  But 
already  before  the  end  of  this  period,  in  the  oath  pre¬ 
scribed  in  1825  for  the  professors  in  her  theological 
seminary  and  in  the  model  constitution  for  District 
Synods  drawn  up  in  1829,  the  General  Synod  was 
working  vigorously  towards  a  specific  definition  of 
the  Lutheran  faith.  It  furnished  a  medium  through 
which  the  inevitable  organization  of  new  synods  might 
minister  to  greater  efficiency  rather  than  greater 
weakness  in  the  Church  as  a  whole.  It  provided  the 
means  and  agencies  for  prosecuting  independently  the 
educational,  missionary,  and  charitable  operations  of 
the  Lutheran  Church.  Above  all,  it  gave  to  the  Church 
in  this  country,  even  to  those  who  did  not  at  once 
become  members  of  the  General  Synod,  a  nation-wide 
outlook  and  interest  and  a  sense  of  permanent  citizen¬ 
ship  in  this  Republic.  As  Dr.  Krauth  expressed  it, 
“The  General  Synod  was  a  declaration  on  the  part  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  in  America  that  she  had  no 


A  GENERAL  ORGANIZATION 


111 


intention  of  dying  or  moving,  that  she  liked  this  West¬ 
ern  World  and  meant  to  live  here.” 

Certainly  the  size  of  the  General  Synod  in  its  infancy 

is  no  measure  of  its  significance.  The  General  Synod 

was  the  logical  outcome  of  the  process  of  organization 

begun  by  Muhlenberg  in  1748.  Theoretically  the  polity 

of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America  is  congregational. 

But  just  as  the  common  necessities  of 

the  congregations  led  to  Muhlenberg’s  A  Loglcal 

Development 

organization  of  a  synod  so,  seventy 
years  later,  the  larger  exigencies  of  the  Church  in 
this  country  led  to  the  organization  of  the  General 
Synod.  The  Church  that  Muhlenberg  was  determined 
to  plant  had  been  bearing  abundant  fruit  after  its  kind 
and  was  about  to  scatter  new  seeds  widely  over  the 
face  of  the  earth. 

Thus  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America  was  provided 
with  a  general  organization,  which,  like  that  of  the 
national  government,  was  destined  to  grow  in  power 
and  influence  with  the  passing  of  the  years.  That  it 
should  have  come  into  being  in  this  period  of  our  his¬ 
tory  is  easily  understood.  It  paralleled  the  movement 
in  the  life  of  the  nation.  Just  at  the  time  that  the 
American  nation  felt  sufficiently  solid  and  secure  to 
issue  its  noli  me  tangere  in  the  form  of  the  Monroe 

Doctrine,  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
.  .  ,  .  ,  .  .  Its  Significance 

America  achieved  a  federal  organiza¬ 
tion  calculated  to  bid  defiance  to  the  agents  of  ecclesi¬ 
astical  interference  and  intended  to  maintain  its  inde¬ 
pendent  existence  among  the  other  Church  bodies.  As 
Washington  and  Jefferson  and  particularly  Monroe  had 


112  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


broken  European  bonds  and  announced  to  the  Euro¬ 
pean  nations  that  our  national  policy  was  “America 
for  Americans,”  so  the  organization  of  a  General 
Synod  proclaimed  to  the  religious  world  that  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  this  country  had  reached  its  ma¬ 
jority  and  announced  the  policy  of  “The  Lutheran 
Church  for  Lutherans.”  One  was  not  more  significant 
than  the  other.  Both  were  the  outgrowth  of  the  same 
spirit,  the  rising  American  spirit  of  independence  and 
enterprise.  j  :  \  j 

But  the  new  organization  encountered  many  difficul¬ 
ties  in  its  early  life,  and  for  many  years  its  “general” 
character  was  more  a  promise  and  a  policy  than  a  fact. 
After  the  organization  meeting  in  1820  the  New  York 
Synod  allowed  its  membership  to  lapse  for  sixteen 
years.  This  was  due  to  the  indifference  of  most  of 
the  members  of  that  body  who  regarded  the  project 
of  a  general  Lutheran  organization  as  impractical  and 
hopeless.  Even  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium  with¬ 
drew  temporarily  from  the  movement.  This  was  owing 
to  strenuous  hostility  to  the  General  Synod  on  the  part 
of  the  congregations  in  the  rural  districts.  Their 


prejudices  had  been  played  on  by  un¬ 
scrupulous  people  outside  of  the 
Church  until  they  were  convinced  that 


Difficulties 

Encountered 


the  new  organization  would  be  nothing  less  than  “an 
aristocratic  spiritual  congress,”  a  union  of  Church  and 
State,  that  would  rob  them  of  their  dearly  bought 
liberties  and  impose  on  them  the  horrors  of  an  eccle¬ 
siastical  despotism.  Theological  seminaries  were 
represented  as  useless  and  costly  evils  that  would  sim- 


CI-IMUCKER,  D.D. 


A  GENERAL  ORGANIZATION 


113 


ply  impose  more  taxes  on  the  farmers.  Moreover,  it 
was  felt  that  the  General  Synod  would  interfere  with 
the  cherished  plans  for  union  with  the  Reformed.  In 
order  to  prevent  further  difficulties  within  the  Minis- 
terium  the  city  congregations  and  the  leaders  yielded 
to  the  empty  fears  of  the  country  districts  and,  while 
declaring  their  unaltered  conviction  of  the  propriety 
and  utility  of  the  General  Synod,  voted  to  withdraw 
from  the  organization  until  those  congregations  should 
see  their  mistake.  But  thirty  years  passed  before  the 
Ministerium  returned  to  the  General  Synod. 

The  withdrawal  of  the  mother  synod,  which  con¬ 
stituted  more  than  half  of  the  Church,  was  a  severe 
blow  to  the  infant  General  Synod,  and  for  a  time 
threatened  its  life.  The  men  of  New  York  felt  that 
the  whole  project  had  failed  and  refused  to  consider  it 
seriously.  The  Ohio  Synod,  which  had  about  decided 
to  join  the  movement,  reconsidered  and  never  came  in. 
It  was  a  critical  point  in  the  history  of  the  Church, 
and  the  General  Synod  was  only  saved 
by  the  vigorous  exertions  of  Rev.  S.  S.  The 
Schmucker,  then  only  twenty-four  Pennsylvania 

years  old.  His  father  was  President  of  withdraw™ 
the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium  when 
the  “Plan  of  Union”  was  adopted.  The  young  man 
was  the  best  educated  young  man  in  the  Lutheran 
Church  and  was  profoundly  impressed  with  the  need 
for  a  revival  of  confessional  subscription  and  for  an 
educated  ministry  in  the  Church.  Particularly  con¬ 
cerned,  therefore,  to  save  the  General  Synod  from  dis¬ 
solution,  in  1823  he  succeeded  in  inspiring  the  dis- 
8 


114  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


couraged  synods  and  prevailing  on  them  to  send 
delegates.  At  the  meeting  in  that  year  there  were 
delegates  from  Maryland  and  Virginia,  from  North 
Carolina  and  from  Ohio.  There  was  also  a  delegation 
from  the  Conference  of  West  Pennsylvania,  which  did 
not  sympathize  with  the  attitude  of  the  rest  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Ministerium  and  which  joined  the  gen¬ 
eral  body  in  1825  as  the  West  Pennsylvania  Synod. 


Thus  the  General  Synod  and  the  ideals 
for  which  it  stood  were  kept  alive.  Its 
significance  for  the  period  in  which  it 


The  General 
Synod  Saved 


was  organized,  as  we  have  seen,  went  far  beyond  the 
numbers  of  the  synods  and  ministers  embraced  in  the 
organization.  But  as  time  passed  it  drew  to  itself 
most  of  the  new  synods,  especially  the  English-speaking 
synods,  as  they  were  successively  formed  on  the 
Church’s  expanding  territory,  and  after  the  close  of 
the  period  now  under  review  the  General  Synod  made 
rapid  strides  both  in  size  and  in  usefulness. 


CHAPTER  XII 
A  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


The  principal  object  contemplated  in  the  organization 
of  the  General  Synod  was  a  theological  seminary.  The 
enlightened  spirits  of  the  Church  saw  that  the  per¬ 
manence  and  independence  of  our  Church  in  this 
country  demanded  that  she  be  supplied  with  a  learned 
and  consecrated  ministry  trained  in  this  country  and 
trained  by  the  Church  herself.  This 

Muhlenberg  began  to  realize  already  in  The  Cllief  Need 

of  the  Church 

his  day,  and  the  need  had  become 
more  acute  and  more  evident  with  each  new  generation. 
In  the  youth  of  the  Republic  it  was  the  foremost  need 
of  the  Church.  It  was  utterly  vain  to  hope  any  longer 
for  ministerial  recruits  from  beyond  the  Atlantic. 
And  it  was  perilous  to  depend  on  the  schools  of  other 
denominations  for  the  training  of  Lutheran  ministers. 

Muhlenberg’s  own  project  for  a  theological  seminary 
had  disappeared  in  the  smoke  of  the  Revolutionary 
War.  Dr.  Kunze  had  tried  to  establish  a  school  for 
ministerial  candidates  first  independently,  then  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  Phila¬ 
delphia,  and  afterwards  in  connection  with  Columbia 
College  in  New  York.  All  of  these 
undertakings  failed,  but  Dr.  Kunze 
gave  private  instructions  to  many 
young  men  studying  for  the  ministry.  He  translated 
the  Catechism  into  English  and  published  the  first 
English  Lutheran  hymn-book,  and  his  students  were 

115 


Efforts  of 
Dr.  Kunze 


116  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


the  first  English  Lutheran  pastors  in  America.  In 
1803  he  was  chosen  by  the  New  York  Ministerium  as 
the  recognized  professor  of  theology  for  the  ministerial 
students  from  that  body. 

The  Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania  had  hoped  for 
much  from  Franklin  College  at  Lancaster.  But  this 
institution  was  operated  in  conjunction  with  the  Re¬ 
formed  and  Moravians,  and  it  yielded  very  few  candi¬ 
dates  for  the  Lutheran  ministry.  The  theological 


seminary  which  it  was  proposed  to 
establish  jointly  with  the  Reformed 
could  not  be  realized.  This  synod  also 


Private 

Instruction 


had  to  depend  on  private  instruction  for  the  education 
of  its  ministerial  students,  and  from  time  to  time  it 
appointed  pastors  who  were  to  be  regarded  as  its 
official  theological  instructors.  Likewise  in  North 
Carolina  and  Tennessee  several  efforts  to  begin  a  semi¬ 
nary  had  proved  futile  and  candidates  for  the  ministry 
were  obliged  to  study  privately  under  pastors. 

A  more  promising  attempt  was  made  in  New  York 
State.  Pastor  J.  C.  Hartwick,  the  eccentric  minister 
at  Rhinebeck  and  other  places  in  New  York,  when  he 
died  in  1797,  left  his  estate  valued  at  $16,000  to  found 
an  institution  for  the  training  of  missionaries  to  the 


Indians.  A  site  was  selected  in  Otsego 
County  in  1812  and  the  work  of  the 
institution  was  finally  begun  in  1815 


Hartwick 

Seminary 


with  Dr.  E.  L.  Hazelius  as  professor  in  theology.  The 
institution  was  not  under  synodical  jurisdiction,  and 
owing  to  difficulties  with  the  bequest  and  the  remote 
location  of  the  school  its  work  was  seriously  hindered 


A  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


117 


Prominent 

Teachers 


for  many  years.  The  curriculum  was  not  purely 
theological  but  general,  and  at  first  it  did  not  reach 
a  wide  constituency. 

But  the  Church  was  growing.  The  home  mission 
field  was  calling  loudly  for  more  laborers.  The  men 
who  had  been  born  and  educated  in  Germany  were 
gradually  passing  off  the  scene.  No  new  supplies  came 
from  that  source  and  none  were  sought.  The  chief 
place  for  the  training  of  an  American  Lutheran  min¬ 
istry  continued  to  be  the  parsonages  of  busy  American 
pastors.  Dr.  Helmuth  and  Dr.  Schmidt 
in  Philadelphia  were  specially  active 
in  this  work  and  trained  many  of  the 
leaders  of  the  next  generation  of  pastors.  Dr.  Geissen- 
hainer  in  New  York,  H.  E.  Muhlenberg  and  his  suc¬ 
cessor,  Christian  Endress  in  Lancaster,  George  Loch- 
man  in  Harrisburg,  David  F.  Schaffer  in  Frederick— 
all  kept  continuous  streams  of  private  students  passing 
under  their  care.  Jacob  Goering  had  as  many  as 
twenty-two  such  students  in  the  course  of  his  pastorate 
at  York  and  elsewhere.  In  many  cases  the  par¬ 
sonages  furnished  the  ministerial  candidates  as 
well  as  their  training.  F.  D.  Schaeffer  instructed  his 
four  sons  in  theology,  and  Paul  Henkel  did  the  same 
for  his  five  sons. 

Many  of  the  ministers  trained  in  this  way  rose  to 
places  of  great  eminence  and  usefulness  in  the  Church. 
But  during  the  period  now  under  review  this  method 
of  ministerial  education  became  increasingly  burden¬ 
some  to  the  busy  pastors  who  undertook  it  and  increas¬ 
ingly  inadequate  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  times.  The 


118  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


work  of  providing  the  ministerial  candidates  with  an 


education  of  proper  range  and  depth 
was  clearly  the  work  of  a  special  in¬ 
stitution,  and  in  that  period  such  an 


Demand  for 
a  Seminary 


institution  called  for  the  support  of  a  general  organi¬ 
zation  of  the  Church.  The  founding  therefore  of  the 
first  official  synodical  Lutheran  Seminary  in  this  coun¬ 
try  waited  for  the  organization  and  action  of  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Synod.  It  came  in  1826.  Andover  Seminary  had 
been  established  in  1808  in  protest  against  the  Unita- 
rianism  of  Harvard.  It  was  the  first  Protestant  semi¬ 
nary  in  this  country,  but  in  less  than  twenty  years 
seventeen  such  schools  had  come  into  existence.  Ameri¬ 
can  Protestantism  had  come  to  realize  that  the  indi¬ 
vidual  churches  must  organize  and  act  if  they  would 
perpetuate  their  ministries. 

Among  the  young  men  of  the  Lutheran  Church  at 
that  time  was  one  who  discerned  the  signs  of  the  times 
and  was  particularly  zealous  for  an  institution  of  theo¬ 
logical  education  for  the  whole  Lutheran  Church.  It 
was  S.  S.  Schmucker.  His  prodigious  efforts  to  save 
the  General  Synod  from  dissolution  in  the  dark  days 
of  1823  were  prompted  primarily  by  his  keen  desire 
to  see  the  Church  establish  her  own  seminary.  He 


was  concerned  that  the  Lutheran 
Church  should  be  rescued  from  “her 


S.  S.  Schmucker 


former  lifeless  and  distracted  condition,”  and  to  that 
end  he  believed  that  the  Church  should  revive  confes¬ 
sional  subscription  to  the  Augsburg  Confession  and 
should  found  a  theological  seminary.  Already  in  1820, 
while  he  was  a  student  in  the  seminary  at  Princeton, 


A  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


119 


he  wrote  to  his  father,  who  was  then  president  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Ministerium,  that  he  had  visited  his 
friend,  F.  C.  Schaeffer,  in  New  York,  and  that  together 
they  had  resolved  to  labor  “that  the  Augsburg  Confes¬ 
sion  should  again  be  brought  up  out  of  the  dust,  and 
everyone  must  subscribe  to  the  twenty-one  articles,  and 
declare  before  God,  by  his  subscription,  that  it  cor¬ 
responds  with  the  Bible  not  quantum  but  quia;  and  we 
promised  to  do  everything  possible  to  promote  learning 
among  us.” 

Dr.  Schmucker  kept  the  subject  before  the  Church. 
Through  the  Synod  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  he  called  the  emphatic  attention 
of  the  General  Synod  of  1825  to  the  committee  ap¬ 
pointed  at  the  organization  meeting  in  1820.  The 
result  was  that  the  General  Synod  at  that  meeting 
adopted  the  plan  proposed  by  the  Synod  of  Maryland 
and  Virginia,  appointed  the  time  for  the  opening  of 
the  seminary,  elected  Dr.  Schmucker  the  professor, 
chose  a  Board  of  Directors,  opened  a 
book  of  subscriptions  for  the  cause,  The  General 
selected  agents  to  canvass  the  Church  Synod  Acts 
in  this  country,  and  appointed  Dr.  Benjamin  Kurtz  to 
go  to  Europe  to  secure  books  for  the  library  and  funds 
for  the  endowment.  At  the  same  time  the  General 
Synod  placed  the  seminary  on  the  unmistakable  basis 
of  subscription  to  the  Augsburg  Confession  by  declar¬ 
ing:  “In  this  seminary  shall  be  taught,  in  the  German 
and  English  languages,  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
the  Sacred  Scriptures  as  contained  in  the  Augsburg 


120  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

Confession.”  This  was  advanced  confessional  ground 
for  those  times. 

The  seminary  was  begun  in  1826  and  was  located  at 
Gettysburg.  If  the  Synods  of  Pennsylvania  and  New 
York  had  been  in  the  General  Synod  at  that  time  the 
school  would  probably  have  been  established  either  in 


Philadelphia  or  New  York  City.  Get¬ 
tysburg  was  chosen  as  most  centrally 
located  for  the  Lutheran  Synods  then 


The  Seminary 
Begins 


in  the  General  Synod.  But  many  of  the  prominent 
individuals  in  the  two  older  synods  co-operated  in 
establishing  the  Seminary.  And  the  Pennsylvania 
Ministerium  sent  many  of  its  students  to  the  Seminary 
and  long  afterwards  transferred  its  interest  in  Frank¬ 
lin  College  to  the  College  at  Gettysburg. 

The  institution  served  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
founded.  Dr.  Schmucker’s  talents  and  learning  pointed 
him  out  as  a  teacher.  Before  going  to  Princeton  he 
had  studied  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and 
under  his  father  and  Dr.  Helmuth.  When  he  took  up 


his  pastorate  at  New  Market,  Virginia, 
he  established  in  the  parsonage  there 
a  pro-seminary  for  ministerial  candi- 


Dr.  Schmucker 
as  President 


dates.  From  1820  to  1870  he  was  present  at  every 
meeting  of  the  General  Synod  and  much  of  that  time 
was  its  leader,  writing  its  organic  documents  and 
determining  its  policies.  For  nearly  forty  years  he 
continued  to  be  the  head  of  the  Seminary,  and  during 
this  time  about  five  hundred  men  were  prepared  for 
the  ministry. 

During  the  next  period  of  our  history  Dr. 


A  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


121 


Schmucker’s  teachings  changed  somewhat  and  be¬ 
came  the  subject  of  violent  controversy  because 
they  ran  counter  to  the  great  changes  that  were 
taking  place  in  the  Church  as  a  whole.  But  no  one 
doubts  that  in  his  work  for  the  establishment  of  an 
official  synodical  seminary  in  this  period  of  the 
Church’s  history  he  made  a  distinct  and  most  vital 
contribution  to  the  life  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
America.  It  solved  the  problem  of  an 

adequate  training  for  a  native  min-  Significance  of 

ill,-  the  Seminary 

istry  and  it  even  helped  to  increase 
the  supply  of  candidates  for  the  holy  office.  It  was  the 
work  most  fundamental  to  the  independence  and  pros¬ 
perity  of  the  Church  in  this  country.  It  also  served 
notice  that  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America  had 
reached  her  maturity  and  was  now  in  a  position  to  con¬ 
centrate  her  resources  in  such  a  way  as  to  effect 
definite  results  whether  in  the  educational  or  mission¬ 
ary  work  of  the  Kingdom.  It  constituted  very  tangible 
evidence  of  the  fact  that  the  thought  of  Lutherans  had 
broken  through  the  narrow  limits  of  synodical  lines 
and  had  begun  to  contemplate  the  broader  and  deeper 
questions  that  arise  out  of  the  life  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  as  a  whole. 


PART  IV 

A  PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  DISCORD 

(1830-1870) 


Sectionalism  and  Sectarianism 


CHAPTER  XIII 
GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


The  next  period  of  American  Lutheran  history  that 

moves  into  our  view  covers  another  round  of  forty 

years  in  the  life  of  the  nation  and  extends  from  about 

1830  to  1870.  It  is  characterized 

politically  by  the  growth  and  culmina-  Sectionalism 

V  ersus 

tion  of  sectionalism  in  its  conflict  with  Nationality 
nationality.  This  was  the  consequence 
of  conflicting  sectional  interests  and  habits,  and  it 
created  an  atmosphere  that  profoundly  affected  the 
whole  of  American  Christianity. 

Already  in  Monroe’s  second  term  there  is  observable 
a  slight  but  steady  decline  of  the  national  conscious¬ 
ness.  The  zeal  for  internal  improvements  at  national 
expense  began  to  lag  somewhat.  The  rapid  growth 
of  the  West  and  Southwest  had  begun  to  undermine 
the  national  sentiment  by  bringing  the  sections  slowly 
to  realize  that  their  interests  were  mutually  conflict¬ 
ing.  The  manufacturing  North,  the  cotton-raising 
South,  the  farming  and  wool-growing  West,  each  was 
slowly  developing  self-consciousness.  The  merchant 
aristocracy  of  the  East,  the  planter 

aristocracy  of  the  South,  and  the  pio-  piversity  of 

Interests 

neer  community  of  the  West,  grew 
constantly  more  conscious  of  their  own  peculiar  needs. 
The  South  began  to  protest  against  the  protective  tariff 
and  the  North  demanded  higher  protection.  The  presi¬ 
dential  election  of  1824  brought  forward  the  “favorite 

125 


126  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


sons”  of  the  sections  as  candidates  and  the  election 
was  thrown  into  the  House  of  Representatives.  Still, 
despite  these  indications  of  germinating  sectionalism, 
President  Adams  succeeded  in  maintaining  throughout 
his  administration  until  1828  the  policy  of  a  strong 
national  government  controlling  the  interests  of  all 
parts  of  the  country.  It  was  left  to  the  administration 
of  Jackson  to  raise  the  issue  concerning  slavery  and 
thus  hurl  the  country  headlong  into  a  new  and  different 
period  of  its  history.  The  roots  of  the  contest  over  the 
institution  of  slavery  go  back  far  beyond  1830,  but  it 
was  not  until  this  period  that  sectionalism  took  slavery 
as  its  weapon  and  opposed  itself  consciously  to  the 
principle  of  nationality,  thus  precipitating  what  may 
rightly  be  called  the  “era  of  hard  feeling.” 

The  facts  here  are  so  well  known,  even  in  their 
bearing  upon  this  general  topic,  that  we  need  not 
pause  long  to  detail  them.  Their  significance  is  plain. 
The  Webster-Hayne  debate  of  1830  brought  the  issue 
squarely  before  the  country.  The  ordinance  of  the 
South  Carolina  convention  in  1832,  annulling  the  fed¬ 
eral  tariff  acts  was  the  first  effort  at  sectional  resist¬ 
ance  to  the  national  principle.  President  Jackson’s 
overthrow  of  the  National  Bank,  and  that  too  with  the 
undoubted  approval  of  the  majority  of  American 
citizens,  removed  a  strong  support  of  the  principle. 

Then  the  spirit  of  sectionalism  ex- 
Civil  War  pressed  itself  in  terms  of  anti-slavery 

and  pro-slavery,  and  this  momentous  issue  absorbed 
all  other  political  questions  until  after  the  Civil  War. 
Events  moved  rapidly.  The  controversies  over  the 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


127 


annexation  of  Texas,  over  the  admission  of  California 
and  Kansas,  the  Congressional  battle  over  the  right  of 
petition,  the  doctrine  of  nullification  in  the  South 
together  with  the  assertion  of  State  sovereignty  and 
threats  of  secession,  the  abolitionism  of  the  North 
and  the  underground  railway,  the  filibustering  expedi¬ 
tions  of  the  South — these  are  the  facts  that  manifest 
the  line  of  deep  cleavage  between  the  sections.  The 
economic  and  social  interests  of  the  South  demanded 
slavery,  the  interests  and  feelings  of  the  North  en¬ 
dangered  slavery.  And  with  the  actual  secession  of  the 
Southern  States  and  the  appeal  to  arms  on  the  part 
of  the  North,  sectionalization  was  complete. 

This  was  not  a  revolt  of  the  South  against  the 
Nation.  It  was  not  a  rebellion  but  a  struggle  between 
the  North  and  the  South  over  conflicting  interests. 
Nor  was  this  sectionalism  healed  immediately  after 
the  war.  The  South  was  treated  like  conquered  terri¬ 
tory.  It  was  a  long  while  before  the  “era  of  hard 
feeling”  began  to  soften.  A  new  nationality  did  not 
even  begin  to  evolve  until  in  1870  the 

weapon  that  had  been  used  to  foster  Conflicting 

.  ...  Interests  Cease 

sectionalism  and  precipitate  strife 

was  permanently  laid  aside  by  the  proclamation  of 
universal  manhood  suffrage.  Thus  was  terminated  by 
constitutional  amendment  the  conflict  of  sectional  in¬ 
terests  in  the  old  sense  and  the  United  States  now 
began  that  career  of  unrivaled  nationalism  on  which 
it  might  have  entered  in  1840,  had  not  slavery  blocked 
the  way. 

Meanwhile  what  has  been  the  trend  in  Church  His- 


128  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

tory?  Again  the  line  of  movement  runs  parallel  to 
that  in  politics.  By  the  year  1830  the  tendency  toward 
unionism  and  co-operation  among  the  churches  had  run 
its  natural  course  and  in  the  period  now  before  us  it 
bears  its  natural  fruit  in  divisions  and  subdivisions. 
The  quickening  evangelical  impulse  that  had  visited 
American  Christianity  at  the  beginning  of  the  century 
was  not  lost  but  it  was  itself  differentiated  and  diffused 

among  the  denominations  which  had 

Feeling  en^s^ed  in  the  common  tasks  of  the 

Church  catholic.  For  their  co-operation 
soon  revealed  the  fact  that  each  of  them  had  its  own 
methods  of  doing  Christian  work.  These  methods  were 
usually  inherited  from  an  honorable  past  and  were  as¬ 
sociated  with  cherished  memories  of  godly  and  heroic 
fathers.  Each  Church  had  a  history.  And  as  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  each  denomination  entered  with  new  energy  on 
common  Christian  tasks,  it  became  more  and  more 
plainly  their  duty  and  delight  to  do  their  work  in  the 
way  it  had  been  done  by  pious  ancestors.  For  they 
naturally  came  to  regard  the  men  of  by-gone  genera¬ 
tions  as  their  superiors  not  only  in  their  knowledge  of 
Christian  truth  and  in  their  zeal  for  Christian  work  but 
also  in  their  devotion  to  proper  ecclesiastical  standards. 
They  sought  to  serve  the  God  of  their  fathers  after  the 
pattern  given  to  their  fathers.  Loyalty  to  one’s  own 
Church  once  more  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  virtue,  and 
this  virtue  was  emphasized  at  the  expense  of  the  love 
for  all  Christian  brethren. 

This  brought  about  a  new  period  in  the  history  of 
American  Christianity.  The  churches  began  to  re- 


LUTHERAN  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  GETTYSBURG,  PA. 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


129 


The  Historical 
Revival 


cover  their  historical  perspective.  The  lively  and  ever- 
increasing  interest  in  the  study  of  Church  History 
during  this  second  period  is  a  striking  phenomenon 
and  it  is  highly  significant.  A  study  of  bibliographies 
reveals  the  fact  that  during  the  thirty  years  preceding 
1830  only  forty  works  on  Church  History  appeared, 
while  in  the  thirty  years  following  1830  one  hundred 
and  fifty  such  works  appeared.  In  the  first  period  about 
five  works  are  works  of  any  importance,  whereas  in  the 
second  period  fifty  works  may  be  regarded  as  of  im¬ 
portance.  It  is  remarkable,  too,  that  de¬ 
nominational  histories  greatly  outnum¬ 
ber  the  general  works  during  this  sec¬ 
ond  period.  This  clearly  indicates  that  in  each  denomi¬ 
nation  there  was  a  vigorous  development  of  its  own  his¬ 
toric  life.  With  the  recovery  of  the  historical  sense 
each  Church  began  to  assert  itself  more  actively  and 
to  be  more  keenly  conscious  of  a  special  mission  of  its 
own.  What  had  invigorated  the  American  Church 
as  a  whole  was  now  indirectly  infusing  new  vigor  into 
its  several  component  parts.  But  this  time  the  pendu¬ 
lum  swung  across  to  dogmatism  in  religion  and  ethics. 
Schism  was  almost  regarded  as  a  virtue  and  the  result 
was  not  only  a  parting  of  ways,  but  often  an  angry 
parting  of  allies,  internal  discords,  divisions  and  strife. 
This  period,  therefore,  is  religiously  a  period  of  heated 
controversy  and  of  unbrotherly  strife,  pre-eminently 
an  “era  of  hard  feeling”  among  the  denominations. 

The  spirit  of  the  times  was  far  more  narrow  than 
denominationalism.  It  was  sectarianism.  Contro¬ 
versies  and  schisms  were  the  order  of  the  day.  Heresy 
9 


130  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


trials  abounded.  Unlovely  epithets  filled  the  air.  Party 
feeling  ran  high  in  every  sphere.  It  expressed  itself 
in  dogged  polemics.  The  human  spirit  was  highly 

sensitive  and  combative  in  all  its  in- 
Hard^a  if  ”  terests.  Acrimonious  debates  occupied 

pulpits,  stages  of  theaters,  and  pages 
of  public  prints.  Preachers  studiously  cultivated  a 
rhetoric  of  paradox  and  hyperbole  so  as  to  astonish 
their  hearers,  inflame  their  passions  and  stir  their 
prejudices.  The  great  immigration  that  swept  into  the 
Mississippi  Valley  and  beyond  during  this  period  fur¬ 
nished  a  wide  field  for  the  competitive  energies  of 
rival  denominations  and  left  permanent  deposits  in 
buildings  and  institutions  that  to  this  day  bear  eloquent 
witness  to  the  infection  of  sectarian  intolerance  that 
prevailed  during  this  Middle  Age  of  American  Chris¬ 
tianity. 

Many  new  sects  arose  between  1830  and  1850  to 
multiply  the  internal  discord  of  American  Christianity 
by  contributing  divergent  currents  to  the  general 
stream  of  religious  life.  Such  were  Mormonism, 

Spiritualism,  Millerism,  and  Advent- 

Sectarianism  .  .  .  V  J*  •  •  7-1 

ism  in  its  various  subdivisions.  Even 
so  unlikely  a  place  for  controversy  as  the  Unitarian 
denomination  could  not  resist  the  infection  of  the 
times  but  took  up  the  sword  against  the  Universalists 
and  the  pantheists  in  its  own  ranks.  Among  the  older 
and  larger  Churches  all  the  distinctions  of  former 
times  were  recovered  and  intensified  and  in  most  cases 
internal  divisions  were  born. 

In  the  first  place  there  was  a  sharp  differentiation 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


131 


and  even  warlike  antagonism  between  Protestants  and 
Catholics.  American  Catholicism  was  reverting  to  her 
true  historical  position  and  soon  ceased  to  have  any 
dealings  with  Protestants.  But  Protestantism  as  such 
had  also  awakened  and  had  begun  an  active  war  on  her 
old  enemy.  Rome  was  fiercely  de¬ 
nounced  by  tongue  and  pen.  And  it  ^holies 
was  not  merely  a  battle  of  pulpits  and 
pamphlets.  But  numerous  acts  of  violence  against 
Roman  Catholics  were  committed  in  various  quarters. 
Monstrous  slanders  were  circulated.  The  zeal  of  the 
anti-Romans  was  shown  by  the  outrage  upon  the  con¬ 
vent  at  Charlestown  (Mass.),  by  acts  of  incendiarism 
at  Charlestown  and  in  New  York,  by  tar  and  feathers 
in  Maine,  by  bloody  riots  in  Philadelphia,  and  by  blood¬ 
shed  in  Kentucky.  The  kindly  disposition  manifested 
towards  Rome  during  the  earlier  period  has  never 
returned. 


The  Roman  Catholic  Church  maintained  of  course 
her  external  unity,  but  her  inner  harmony  was  marred 
by  many  a  discord.  Sharp  conflicts  in  all  parts  of 
the  country  arose  over  “trusteeism,”  that  is,  the  de¬ 
mand  of  the  laity  in  the  Catholic  Church  to  manage  the 
Church  property.  The  administrative 

abilities  of  the  American  bishops  were  Rome  s  Internal 

Troubles 

put  to  a  sharp  test  and  more  than  one 
congregation  was  put  under  interdict  before  the  laity 
could  be  forced  to  submit.  The  issue  continued  to 
vex  the  peace  of  the  Church  for  more  than  three 
decades  until  in  1854  trusteeism  was  finally  eliminated. 
But  the  harmony  of  the  Church  continued  to  be  men- 


132  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


aced  by  the  jealousies  of  the  various  orders  among  the 
monks  and  by  the  antagonisms  of  the  different  races 
and  nationalities  among  the  laity. 

Then,  too,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  incurred 
the  distrust  and  dislike  of  other  Churches.  With  the 
year  1830  the  High  Church  party  began  to  predominate 


over  the  Low  Church  party,  thus 
strongly  emphasizing  the  distinctive 
feature  of  this  communion.  In  1832 
action  was  taken  to  exclude  from  Epis- 


Parties  in  the 

Episcopal 

Church 


copal  pulpits  ministers  who  had  not  taken  Episcopal 
orders.  Then  came  the  Oxford  movement  within  the 
Church,  and  accusations  of  Romanism  from  without, 
and  the  practical  isolation  of  the  Church  from  all  co¬ 
operation  with  others. 

Moreover,  the  close  federation  of  the  Presbyterians 
and  Congregationalists  in  the  famous  “Plan  of  Union” 
was  not  permanently  satisfying.  And  in  this  period 
came  the  split.  The  doctrinal  conservatism  of  the 


Presbyterians  and  their  difference  in 
polity  from  the  Congregationalists  led 
the  Old  School  majority  of  the  General 
Assembly  in  1837  to  abrogate  the 


Divisions 

Among 

Presbyterians 


Plan  of  Union  and  to  withdraw  from  co-operation  with 
the  Congregationalists  in  missions  and  in  ministerial 
education.  At  the  same  time  questions  of  orthodoxy 
and  of  Church  polity  led  the  Old  School  Presbyterians 
to  cut  off  the  New  School  Presbyterians  who  consti¬ 
tuted  four-ninths  of  the  entire  body.  Each  of  these 
two  bodies  split  again  just  before  the  War  into  North 
and  South. 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


1 33 


Both  Methodists  and  Baptists  began  to  assume 
sharply  defined  denominational  attitudes  and  to  with¬ 
draw  from  the  unionistic  benevolent 
societies  into  their  own  denominational  Methodists 

organizations  for  benevolence.  Then,  Di^i^aPtlStS 
when  the  Methodists  in  the  South 
found  that  slaveholders  could  not  become  bishops,  and 
when  the  Baptists  in  the  South  found  that  slaveholders 
would  not  be  employed  as  missionaries,  these  two 
Churches  also  split  into  North  and  South. 

In  1844  the  German  Reformed  Church  also  began 
to  rally  from  the  effect  of  the  evangelical  movement 
and  began  to  manifest  the  natural  influence  of  that 
movement  in  the  renewed  energy  of 
its  own  proper  life  as  well  as  in  its 
deepened  spirituality  and  enlarged 
Christianity  activity.  And  in  the  next 
ten  years  this  Church  became  more  conscious  than 
ever  before  of  its  denominational  character  and  mis¬ 
sion.  In  this  case  the  stimulus  came  from  the  so-called 
Mercersburg  movement  and  its  able  leaders,  Dr.  Nevin 
and  Dr.  Schaff.  The  result  was  a  long,  fierce  struggle 
within  the  Church,  nearly  ending  in  schism,  and  a 
bitter  quarrel  with  her  ecclesiastical  twin-sister,  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church. 

In  our  own  Lutheran  Church  after  her  disastrous 
experience  with  evangelicalism  the  revival  of  denomi¬ 
national  consciousness  runs  quite  parallel  to  that  in 
other  Churches  except  that  here  again  we  are  some¬ 
what  belated.  By  1850,  however,  the  return  to  his¬ 
torical  Lutheranism  was  well  under  way.  The  Luth- 


Troubles  in  the 

Reformed 

Church 


134  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Zeal  Among 
Lutherans 


erans  began  to  withdraw  from  co-operation  with  other 
Churches  in  benevolence.  As  early  as  1841  Heyer  had 

refused  to  go  as  a  missionary  under 
Denominational  any  but  Lutheran  auspices  and  hence¬ 
forth  there  were  Lutheran  missions. 
In  1845  the  Home  Missionary  Society 
of  the  General  Synod  was  organized.  Similar  Luth¬ 
eran  organizations  in  other  spheres  of  benevolence 
followed  rapidly.  In  matters  of  doctrine  also  the 
day  of  indifferentism  was  over.  Doctrinal  hos¬ 
tility  to  the  Synod  of  North  Carolina  and  to  the 
newly-formed  General  Synod  had  led  the  Henkels 
to  form  the  Tennessee  Synod,  and  the  fires 
of  hostility  burned  hot  during  this  period.  The  Joint 
Synod  of  Ohio,  once  favorably  inclined  toward  the 
Reformed  Church  in  that  State,  in  this  period  reverted 
strongly  to  historic  Lutheranism,  so  that  to  this  day 
it  has  been  unable  on  account  of  its  conservative  and 
confessional  standpoint  to  form  a  lasting  union  with 
any  of  the  larger  general  bodies  of  Lutherans.  In  1839 
there  arrived  in  Missouri  a  group  of  Saxon  Lutherans 
imbued  with  a  double  portion  of  the  spirit  of  confes- 
sionalism.  Their  fiery  zeal  for  the  whole  body  of 
Lutheran  doctrine  was  made  even  more  intense  by 
the  ardor  of  their  piety.  This  union  of  denominational 
zeal  and  religious  fervor  gave  extraordinary  power 
of  propagandism,  so  that  the  few  shiploads  of  Saxon 
pilgrims  have  grown  into  the  largest  of  Lutheran 
bodies,  the  Synodical  Conference.  They  have  helped 
very  materially  to  raise  the  general  standard  of  con¬ 
fessional  loyalty  in  this  country.  It  was  in  that  same 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


135 


year,  1839,  that  a  body  of  “Old  Lutherans/’  separatists 
from  the  Prussian  Union  in  Germany,  came  to  this 
country  and  shortly  thereafter  formed  the  Buffalo 
Synod. 

These  are  some  of  the  factors  that  contributed  to 
and  manifested  the  revival  of  Lutheran  consciousness 
during  this  period.  In  part  it  was  the  result  of  the 
new  vigor  imparted  to  all  American  Christianity  by 
the  religious  movement  earlier  in  the 

century;  in  part  it  was  due  to  a  revival  Causes  and 

r.  .  ,  ,  .  i  •  .  ,  Effects  of  the 

of  interest  m  the  history  and  the  peaction 

doctrines  of  our  Church ;  in  part  it  was 
due  to  the  importation  of  rigid  confessionalists  from 
Germany  and  Scandinavia.  But  this  confessional  re¬ 
action  quite  naturally  led  to  internal  controversies  long 
continued  and  acute,  and  in  its  conflict  with  the  laxity 
of  the  former  period  it  led  to  further  divisions  of 
general  bodies.  In  this  respect  the  history  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  runs  significantly  parallel  to  that 
of  other  denominations  and  to  that  of  American  gov¬ 
ernment.  The  era  of  disintegration  in  our  Church 
corresponds  to  the  era  of  sectionalization  in  the  history 
of  our  country. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


ORGANIZED  BENEVOLENCE 


One  of  the  first  witnesses  to  the  revival  of  denomi¬ 
national  zeal  in  this  period  is  found  in  the  sphere  of 
practical  benevolence.  Hitherto  most  of  the  work  of 
applying  Christianity  in  benevolence  at  home  and 
spreading  it  through  missions  abroad  had  been  done  by 


great  national  societies  uniting  Chris¬ 
tians  of  various  names.  But  the  recov¬ 
ery  of  denominational  loyalty  brought 
with  it  the  idea  that  the  work  of  the 


Withdrawal 

From 

Co-operation 


Gospel  in  all  its  departments  and  in  all  lands  is  the 
proper  function  of  the  individual  Church  as  such.  One 
by  one  the  Churches  withdrew  from  co-operation  in  the 
nation-wide  interdenominational  organizations  until 
all  but  a  very  few  of  these  organizations  permanently 
disappeared  from  American  Christianity.  The  denomi¬ 
nations  began  to  prosecute  the  practical  tasks  of  Chris¬ 
tian  love  by  organizing  their  own  denominational 
agencies.  In  the  course  of  a  few  decades  these  agencies 
of  benevolence  were  actively  ministering  to  the  com¬ 
petitive  spirit  among  the  denominations  and  their 
various  fractions.  But  for  the  Lutheran  Church  it 
meant  the  steady  development  of  her  benevolent  and 
missionary  operations  until  at  the  close  of  the  period 
they  were  thoroughly  organized  and  progressively 
active. 

We  turn  first  to  the  work  of  home  missions.  We 
have  seen  that  before  the  organization  of  the  General 


136 


ORGANIZED  BENEVOLENCE 


137 


Synod  the  work  of  caring  for  the  scattered  and  needy 
of  our  Lutheran  family  went  forward  only  slowly  be¬ 
cause  of  the  lack  of  men  and  the  lack 
of  organization.  It  devolved  upon  ^rl^^ome 
individual  pastors  or  churches,  and 
later  upon  separate  synods  unprepared  for  the  enter¬ 
prise.  Most  of  the  synods,  as  they  came  into  being, 
adopted  the  plan  of  sending  out  each  year  one  or  two 
missionaries  on  preaching  tours  among  the  vacant  pas¬ 
torates  or  the  spiritually  destitute  communities  in 
various  parts  of  the  country.  This  kind  of  work  repre¬ 
sented  great  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the  missionaries 
and  it  accomplished  much  good,  particularly  by  calling 
attention  to  the  need  and  by  leading  pastors  to  take 
up  their  abodes  in  the  pioneer  communities.  But  from 
the  unorganized  nature  of  the  work  it  was  necessarily 
of  a  desultory  character  and  often  temporary  and  in¬ 
effective. 

t  e  Genei  a  1  3ynod  was  organized  in  1820  one 
of  its  expressed  purposes  was  to  devise  plans  for 
“missionary  institutions.”  This  meant  the  organiza¬ 
tion  of  agencies  for  administering  the  missionary 
operations  of  the  Church.  But  for 
many  years  the  project  remained  only  Central 
an  ideal.  It  was  not  realized  because  Missionary 

Society 

ot  the  strong  antagonism  at  that  time 
against  the  centralization  of  authority  involved  in 
such  agencies.  Not  until  1835  was  any  kind  of  mis¬ 
sionary  organization  effected.  Then  the  “Central  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church 
in  the  Lnited  States”  was  formed  by  a  missionary  con- 


138  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


vention  of  Lutheran  ministers  called  by  the  General 
Synod.  The  new  “Society”  met  in  connection  with  the 
meetings  of  the  General  Synod  but  it  was  not  official 
as  its  membership  was  of  individuals  and  not  of  repre¬ 
sentatives.  It  undertook  to  establish  a  “system  of 
societies  throughout  the  Church.”  In  1837  it  reported 
that  it  had  employed  six  missionaries.  The  chief  work 
had  been  done  by  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Heyer  who  had  ex¬ 
plored  the  chief  parts  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  had 
traveled  thousands  of  miles,  had  discovered  fields  for 
at  least  fifty  missionaries,  and  had  finally  settled  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Pittsburgh.  Other  missionaries 
of  the  Society  had  labored  in  Boston,  Western  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois. 

A  similar  society  was  connected  with  the  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  Ministerium  and  worked  in  harmony  with  the 
“Central  Missionary  Society.”  Ezra  Keller,  afterwards 

founder  of  Wittenberg  College,  was 
for  a  time  the  missionary  of  the  old 
Ministerium  and  in  1836  he  reported  that  he  had  trav¬ 
eled  three  thousand  miles  through  Western  Virginia 
and  Ohio  into  Kentucky,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  laying 
the  foundations  for  many  of  the  flourishing  churches 
in  those  regions  today. 

But  the  “Central  Society”  did  not  receive  the  sup¬ 
port  of  the  synods  and  its  work  had  to  cease,  while 

the  work  of  the  Pennsylvania  Minis- 
H°me  Mission  terium  lagged  on  account  of  the  atten¬ 
tion  paid  to  the  new  enterprise  of  for¬ 
eign  missions.  The  next  step  forward  in  home  mis¬ 
sionary  work  came  in  1845  when  the  sentiment  for  more 


Ezra  Keller 


ORGANIZED  BENEVOLENCE 


139 


adequate  organization  crystallized  in  the  formation  of 
the  “Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  General  Synod.” 
This  society  had  auxiliaries  within  the  district  synods 
and  while  it  had  no  valid  authority  to  act  for  the 
Church  as  a  whole,  yet  for  more  than  twenty  years  it 
carried  on  the  general  home  missionary  operations  of 
the  General  Synod  section  of  the  Church,  receiving 
and  disbursing  several  thousands  of  dollars  annually 
and  furnishing  substantial  aid  to  hundreds  of  mission¬ 
aries  in  many  different  states. 

As  a  result  of  home  missionary  expansion  during  this 
period  a  number  of  new  synods  were  born.  The  in¬ 
stitutions  at  Hartwick  and  Gettysburg  were  furnishing 
an  increasing  number  of  young  ministers  who  were 
able  to  preach  in  English  and  adapt 

themselves  to  the  changing  conditions  Many  New 

Synods 

of  American  life.  These  pushed  out 
into  the  expanding  mission  fields  and  one  by  one  new 
synods  were  organized.  Their  names  indicate  the  suc¬ 
cessive  stages  in  the  expansion  of  the  Church  and  the 
westward  movement  of  her  organization.  The  Alle¬ 
ghany  Synod  was  organized  in  1842  and  the  Pittsburgh 
Synod  three  years  later.  The  East  Ohio  Synod  had 
been  formed  in  1836,  the  Synod  of  Miami  in  1844,  the 
Wittenberg  Synod  in  1847,  and  the  District  Synod  of 
Ohio  in  1861.  In  Indiana  we  have  the  Olive  Branch 
Synod  in  1848  and  the  Northern  Indiana  Synod  in 
1855.  The  Northern  Illinois  Synod  came  into  being 
in  1851  and  that  of  Central  Illinois  in  1862.  The  Synod 
of  Iowa  dates  from  1855,  the  Canada  Synod  from 
1861,  the  Synod  of  Kansas  from  1868,  and  the  Synod 


140  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


of  Nebraska  from  1871.  In  the  South  we  have  the 
Southwestern  Virginia  Synod  in  1842,  the  Texas  Synod 
in  1851,  the  Mississippi  Synod  in  1855,  the  Georgia 
Synod  and  the  Holston  Synod  in  1860.  Meanwhile  the 
territory  of  Pennsylvania  has  been  further  divided  and 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Synod  begins  in  1842,  the  Cen¬ 
tral  Pennsylvania  in  1855,  the  Susquehanna  in  1867. 
Nearly  all  of  these  synods  ultimately  found  their  way 
into  the  General  Synod.  The  organization  of  the  Pitts¬ 
burgh  Synod  in  1845  with  its  great  missionary  zeal 
and  its  apportionment  system  and  the  founding  of 
Wittenberg  College  and  Seminary  that  same  year  as 
a  literary  and  theological  center  for  the  newly  formed 
synods  in  that  state,  gave  great  impetus  to  the  home 
missionary  efforts  of  the  General  Synod. 

Meanwhile  there  was  a  growing  feeling  that  the 
“Home  Missionary  Society”  should  be  bound  up 
organically  with  the  life  and  prestige  of  the  General 
Synod  itself.  This  delicate  change  was  begun  in  1866 


when  the  constitution  of  the  Society 
was  amended  to  make  all  the  delegates 
to  the  General  Synod  members  of  the 


The  Home 
Mission  Board 


Society.  It  was  completed  in  1869  at  Washington, 
when  the  society  transferred  all  its  funds  and  interests 
to  the  General  Synod  and  the  General  Synod  decided 
to  assume  direct  control  of  its  home  mission  affairs 
and  committed  the  administration  of  the  work  to  a 
Board  as  its  representative.  Thus  was  established  the 
important  principle  that  missionary  work  is  the 
Church’s  own  proper  life  and  business.  The  Board 
is  the  agent  of  the  entire  Church,  it  directs  the 


ORGANIZED  BENEVOLENCE 


141 


work  for  the  entire  Church,  it  administers  funds 
received  from  all  parts  of  the  Church  and  applies  them 
to  the  entire  field  as  the  need  and  opportunity  may 
demand  and  without  regard  to  synodical  bounds  or 
the  measure  of  synodical  contributions.  This  method 
of  organized  benevolence  continued  in  use  throughout 
the  remaining  half  century  of  the  General  Synod’s  life 
and  it  is  the  method  in  use  today  in  The  United  Luth¬ 
eran  Church. 

Very  similar  was  the  development  of  organized 
benevolence  in  the  department  of  foreign  missions. 
The  Central  Missionary  Society  formed  in  1835,  of 
which  we  have  already  learned,  had  as  one  of  its 
objects  “ultimately  to  co-operate  in 
sending  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen 
world.”  The  call  to  definite  action  on 
the  foreign  mission  project  came 
through  the  strong  appeals  of  the  celebrated  Gutzlaff 
of  China  and  the  indefatigable  Rhenius  of  India.  At 
a  convention  held  in  1837  in  connection  with  the  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  General  Synod  there  was  organized  “The 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Evangelical  German 
Churches  in  the  United  States.”  That  title  was  used 
in  the  hope  of  drawing  all  Germans,  Lutheran  and  Re¬ 
formed,  into  the  Society.  The  Ministerium  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania  was  represented  but  the  Reformed  and  Mora¬ 
vians  declined  to  co-operate,  so  the  title  was  changed 
from  “German”  to  “Lutheran.”  The  society  formed 
auxiliaries  in  the  various  synods  and  proceeded  to 
gather  funds  to  help  Rev.  Dr.  Rhenius  at  Palamcotta, 
India.  Rhenius  had  been  laboring  under  the  Church 


Foreign 

Missionary 

Society 


142  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Missionary  Society  of  England,  but  his  strong  Lutheran 
convictions  had  led  to  his  dismissal  from  the  service  of 
the  Anglicans  and  his  appeal  to  Lutherans  throughout 
the  world.  Through  the  efforts  of  the  Lutheran  For¬ 
eign  Missionary  Society  in  America  substantial  aid 
reached  his  hands. 

In  1840  the  society  determined  to  send  its  own  mis¬ 
sionary  to  India.  Rev.  C.  F.  Heyer  was  appointed.  He 
had  read  the  interesting  reports  of  those  first  Protest¬ 
ant  missionaries  who  had  gone  out  from  Halle  to  India. 


But  when  the  Society  decided  to  trans¬ 
act  its  business  through  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  “Father 


Heyer  Goes 
to  India 


Heyer,”  as  he  was  called,  resigned  the  appointment, 
declaring  that  he  did  not  want  to  “be  dependent  on 
other  Christian  denominations.”  The  day  of  inter¬ 
denominational  agencies  was  passing.  Heyer  offered 
himself  to  the  Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania,  which  had 
maintained  a  separate  missionary  organization.  After 
some  hesitation  this  body  decided  to  accept  the  respon¬ 
sibility,  and  Heyer  sailed  for  India  in  October,  1841, 
the  first  foreign  missionary  sent  out  by  the  American 
Lutheran  Church.  He  began  work  at  Guntur.  Two 
years  later  he  was  joined  by  Rev.  Walter  Gunn  and 
his  wife,  who  had  been  sent  out  by  the  general  Foreign 
Missionary  Society. 

The  work  in  India  made  steady  progress  and  new 
missionaries  were  sent  out  from  time  to  time.  The 
Pennsylvania  Ministerium  co-operated  with  the  Society 
of  the  General  Synod.  In  1850  the  Rajahmundry  field 
was  accepted  from  the  hands  of  the  North  German  Mis- 


ORGANIZED  BENEVOLENCE 


143 


sionary  Society  which  was  in  financial  straits.  In  1857 
Dr.  Heyer  retired  from  the  field  and  de¬ 
voted  himself  to  home  missionary  work  Expansion  m 

in  Minnesota.  But  in  1869,  after  the  Missions 
General  Council  had  been  formed, 

Heyer,  though  seventy-seven  years  of  age,  returned  to 
India  just  in  time  to  organize  the  Rajahmundry  field 
under  the  auspices  of  the  General  Council  and  thus 
prevent  its  delivery  to  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
in  England.  That  same  year  the  General  Synod  de¬ 
cided  to  assume  direct  responsibility  for  the  work  of 
the  Foreign  Missionary  Society  both  in  India  and  in 
Liberia,  Africa,  where  a  mission  had  been  started  by 
Morris  Officer  in  1860.  A  board  was  appointed  to  have 
charge  of  the  work,  as  had  been  done  in  the  case  of 
home  missions,  and  so  this  department  of  benevolence 
was  finally  organized  under  the  direct  care  of  the 
Church. 

In  1853  a  Church  Extension  Society  was  organized 
in  much  the  same  way  as  the  Home  Missionary  Society 
and  the  Foreign  Missionary  Society  had  been  organized. 
The  purpose  was  to  give  strength  and  permanence  to 
the  missions  of  the  Church  by  granting 
them  loans  without  interest  when  Church 
necessary.  The  aim  from  the  begin¬ 
ning  was  to  raise  a  fund  of  $50,000.  Only  one-fourth 
of  that  amount  was  secured  before  1869.  Then  the 
work  was  committed  to  a  Board  elected  by  the  General 
Synod  itself.  This  opened  a  new  era  in  the  work  of 
Church  Extension  and  this  agency  of  benevolence  was 
one  of  the  chief  means  of  advance  in  the  General  Synod. 


144  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


It  was  in  this  same  period  that  the  foundations  were 
laid  for  the  organized  eleemosynary  work  of  the 
Church.  Dr.  W.  A.  Passavant,  the  founder  of  the  Pitts¬ 
burgh  Synod,  took  the  lead  in  establishing  institutions 
of  mercy.  He  got  his  inspiration  from  Pastor  Flied- 


ner,  of  Kaiserswerth,  Germany.  He 
began  with  a  hospital  in  Pittsburgh  in 
1849.  Then  came  an  orphanage  at  the 


Institutions 
of  Mercy 


same  place,  later  transferred  to  Zelienople  and 
Rochester,  Pennsylvania.  That  same  year  he  brought 
some  Lutheran  sisters  from  the  Kaiserswerth  institu¬ 
tions  and  thus  introduced  the  Protestant  order  of 
deaconesses  into  this  country.  Hospitals  were  founded 
in  Milwaukee,  Chicago  and  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  and 
orphanages  at  Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y.,  Germantown,  Pa., 
and  Boston,  Mass.  Altogether  Dr.  Passavant  secured 
more  than  a  million  dollars  for  his  Lutheran  institu¬ 
tions  of  mercy. 

From  the  growing  spirit  of  benevolence  and  increas¬ 
ing  loyalty  to  the  Lutheran  Church  came  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  a  number  of  new  educational  institutions  in 
this  period.  The  college  at  Gettysburg  grew  out  of 


the  necessity  of  preparing  men  for  the 
Seminary  there  and  began  in  1832. 
The  establishment  of  Wittenberg  Col¬ 
lege  and  Seminary  in  1845  has  already 


New 

Educational 

Institutions 


been  referred  to.  The  South  Carolina  Synod  had 
begun  a  Seminary  at  Lexington  in  1830  and  from  this 
came  Newberry  College  in  1858.  The  Ohio  Synod 
began  its  Seminary  at  Canton  in  1830  but  the  next 
year  removed  to  Columbus.  There  in  1850  a  collegiate 


ORGANIZED  BENEVOLENCE 


145 


department  was  established  as  Capitol  University. 
Roanoke  College  in  Virginia  was  founded  in  1853  and 
North  Carolina  College  at  Mount  Pleasant,  N.  C.,  in 
1858.  Meanwhile  the  westward  expansion  of  home 
missions  led  to  the  establishment  of  Illinois  State 
University  in  1852  and  from  this  came  Carthage  Col¬ 
lege  in  1870.  Difference  of  opinion  within  the  General 
Synod  led  to  the  founding  of  the  Missionary  Institute 
(now  Susquehanna  University)  at  Selinsgrove,  Pa.,  in 
1858.  And  towards  the  close  of  our  period  organic 
division  in  the  ranks  of  the  General  Synod  resulted  in 
the  establishment  of  the  Philadelphia  Theological  Semi¬ 
nary  in  1864  and  of  Muhlenberg  College  in  1867. 

A  number  of  Church  periodicals  came  on  the  scene 
during  this  period  to  foster  the  benevolent  operations 
of  the  Church,  to  furnish  light  on  all  manner  of  re¬ 
ligious  and  theological  topics,  and  to  add  heat  to  the 
controversies  of  the  times.  During  the  preceding 
period  several  attempts  had  been  made  to  establish 
official  or  synodical  journals.  Such 

were  Das  Evangelische  Magazin  of  the  Church 
_  .  .  Periodicals 

Pennsylvania  Mimsterium  (1812), 

The  Lutheran  Intelligencer  of  the  Maryland  Synod 
(1826),  The  Lutheran  Magazine  of  the  Western  Con¬ 
ference  of  New  York  (1827),  and  Das  Evangelische 
Magazin  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Synod  (1829). 
None  of  these  lasted  more  than  six  years.  But  such 
was  the  ecclesiastical  zeal  during  the  period  now  under 
review  that  at  least  five  journals  beginning  at  this 
time  have  been  able  to  maintain  themselves  to  the 
present  day  or  until  they  were  merged  in  larger  under- 
10 


146  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

takings.  The  first  of  these  was  the  Lutheran  Observer 
begun  in  1831  by  Dr.  J.  G.  Morris  of  Baltimore.  Ex¬ 
cept  for  a  few  years  when  it  was  in  the  possession  of 
the  Maryland  Synod  it  was  privately  owned,  and  it  be¬ 
came  the  mouthpiece  for  the  less  conservative  element 
in  the  General  Synod.  In  1843  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  Dr. 
Greenwald  began  the  Lutheran  Standard,  which  still 
survives  as  the  official  weekly  of  the  Joint  Synod  of 
Ohio.  Dr.  Passavant  of  Pittsburgh,  unable  to  pur¬ 
chase  the  Observer,  began  in  1848  the  Missionary  as 
a  means  of  fostering  appreciation  of  historical  Luth¬ 
eranism.  This  was  merged  in  1861  with  the  Phila¬ 
delphia  Lutheran,  which  had  been  founded  in  1856. 
This  paper  was  the  popular  English  mouthpiece  for 
conservative  Lutheran  thought  and  practice  in  this 
period,  and  for  many  years  carried  the  scholarly 
articles  of  Dr.  Charles  Porterfield  Krauth,  who  was 
also  its  editor  for  several  years.  The  Evangelical 
Review,  begun  at  Gettysburg  in  1849,  is  the  oldest 
theological  magazine  of  our  Church  in  this  country 
(since  1872  called  the  Lutheran  Quarterly).  For  a 
long  time  it  was  the  chief  source  of  Lutheran  theology 
for  the  English-speaking  part  of  the  Church.  While 
all  of  these  periodicals  reflect  the  controversial  spirit 
of  those  days,  nevertheless  they  contributed  immensely 
to  the  growth  of  Lutheran  loyalty,  the  publishing  of 
Lutheran  information,  and  the  progress  of  the  organ¬ 
ized  benevolence  of  the  Church. 

In  all  these  lines  of  benevolence  and  literary  activity 
additional  luster  was  given  to  the  chronicle  of  Lutheran 
achievements  in  this  period  by  large  and  aggressive 


ORGANIZED  BENEVOLENCE 


147 


bodies  of  Lutherans  newly  arrived  from  Europe  and 
now  favorably  located  for  the  most 
part  on  the  broad  expanse  of  the  New  Arnvals 
Mississippi  Valley.  These  also  we  must  consider  if  we 
would  understand  the  general  course  of  our  history  in 
this  period  of  internal  discord. 


CHAPTER  XV 

IMMIGRATION  AND  CONFESSIONAL  REACTION 


Out  of  the  strenuous  rivalries  and  antagonisms  of 
the  denominations  during  this  period  the  student  of 
history  can  trace  a  very  substantial  asset  accruing  to 
the  Kingdom  of  God  in  this  country.  The  sharpening 
of  Church  loyalty  that  characterized  these  four 

decades  was  the  process  by  which  the 
The  Wonder  of  great  Head  of  the  Church  prepared 

Churcha Histor  His  Pe0P^e  to  meet  the  sudden  rush 

of  a  vast  invasion  of  American  shores. 
A  veritable  flood  of  immigration  swept  into  the  coun¬ 
try.  It  amounted  to  far  more  than  the  entire  popula¬ 
tion  of  the  country  at  the  birth  of  the  Republic,  and 
it  spread  itself  over  a  great  domain  more  than  four 
times  the  size  of  the  original  colonies.  This  alien 
multitude  needed  to  be  transformed  into  American 
citizenship  and  gathered  into  the  fellowship  of  the 
Christian  Churches.  Nothing  but  the  utmost  zeal  on 
the  part  of  the  Churches  could  have  sufficed  for  the 
unprecedented  task.  Deprecate  discord  and  contro¬ 
versy  as  we  may,  it  is  certain  that  the  torpid  ecclesi¬ 
astical  uniformity  of  the  preceding  period  would  not 
have  availed  in  the  grave  exigency  of  this  period.  Only 
the  spontaneous  and  vigorous  operation  of  a  multitude 
of  different  agencies,  each  built  on  Church  loyalty  and 
invigorated  by  denominational  zeal,  each  marshalling 
its  own  distinctive  attributes  and  forging  its  own 
particular  weapons,  could  have  accomplished  the 

148 


IMMIGRATION  AND  CONFESSIONAL  REACTION  149 


wonder  of  American  Church  History,  by  gathering 
into  the  Churches  the  incoming  millions. 

A  variety  of  causes  led  to  the  great  immigration 

during  this  period.  The  allurements  of  America  were 

quite  as  strong  an  influence  as  the  hardships  in 

Europe.  The  attractions  in  front  of  the  immigrants 

were  the  liberal  homestead  policy  of  the  United  States, 

the  easy  naturalization  laws,  the  loud 

call  for  labor,  the  facility  of  transpor-  Causes  of 

Immigration 

tation,  and  the  discovery  of  gold  m 
California.  The  impulses  behind  were  the  repeated 
failure  of  crops,  the  over-population  of  the  farming 
districts,  the  destruction  of  local  industries  through 
the  new  factory  system,  and  the  misgovernment  of 
petty  European  rulers.  In  addition  there  were  special 
causes  for  the  immigration  of  particular  groups,  such 
as  dissatisfaction  with  religious  conditions  in  the 
homeland  and  desire  to  join  friends  who  were  already 
prospering  in  America.  All  these  conditions  applied 
with  peculiar  force  to  Germany,  especially  after  the 
middle  of  the  century.  A  little  later  a  strong  tide  of 
immigration  set  in  from  the  Scandinavian  countries. 
The  result  was  an  enormous  increase  in  the  Lutheran 
population  of  America. 

The  great  increase  in  German  immigration  began 
about  1840.  The  crest  of  the  wave 
was  reached  in  the  decade  preceding  Lutheran 
the  Civil  War,  when  nearly  a  million  Accesslons 
Germans  reached  American  shores.  After  the  close 
of  the  War  they  continued  to  come  at  the  rate  of  about 
one  hundred  thirty  thousand  annually.  Multitudes  of 


150  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


these  German  immigrants  were  Roman  Catholics.  Great 
numbers  also  went  to  swell  the  churchless  and  godless 
population  of  the  land.  But  the  greater  portion  of 
them  were  Lutherans.  Their  arrival  imposed  an 
enormous  responsibility  on  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
America  and  made  a  profound  and  indelible  impression 
on  every  aspect  of  her  history.  Her  numerical  strength, 
her  standing  among  the  other  Churches,  her  influence 
on  the  life  of  the  nation,  her  benevolent  and  educational 
activities,  her  doctrinal  position — all  were  deeply  and 
beneficially  modified  by  the  new  arrivals  in  her  midst. 
During  the  first  forty  years  in  the  life  of  the  Republic 
the  communicant  membership  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
had  multiplied  threefold,  just  keeping  pace  with ‘the 
general  population  of  the  country.  But  during  this 
second  period  of  forty  years,  while  the  population  at 
large  was  increasing  three-fold,  the  membership  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  increased  more  than  nine-fold, 
reaching  in  1870  a  total  of  about  400,000  and  standing 
fourth  among  the  Protestant  Churches. 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  whole  Church  and  specially 
significant  for  the  course  of  history  in  this  period  that 
the  advance  guard  of  the  great  army  of  Lutheran 
immigrants  were  stoutly  loyal  to  the  Lutheran  Confes¬ 
sions  and  abundantly  able  to  give  reasons  for  their 


faith.  It  was  equally  fortunate  that 
this  advance  guard  planted  its  outposts 
in  the  heart  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 


A  New  Type 
of  Lutheran 


where  the  vast  majority  of  the  newcomers  were  to 
find  their  homes.  The  older  Lutheran  elements  that  had 
come  down  in  the  line  of  the  Muhlenberg  development 


IMMIGRATION  AND  CONFESSIONAL  REACTION  151 


had  for  the  most  part  solved  their  problems  of  ration¬ 
alism  and  unionism,  had  developed  their  synodical 
organizations,  and  were  prepared  to  put  their  hands 
vigorously  to  the  task  of  absorbing  the  new  arrivals. 
But  of  themselves  they  would  never  have  met  the  re¬ 
sponsibility  imposed  by  the  great  immigration.  The 
majority  of  the  incoming  multitudes  were  to  belong 
to  an  entirely  different  branch  of  Lutheranism  in 
America,  which  was  destined  to  help  along  the  confes¬ 
sional  reaction  that  had  already  begun  within  the 
bodies  of  Muhlenberg  descent. 

This  new  accession  to  the  Lutheran  Church  in 

America  came  into  the  country  chiefly  by  way  of  the 

Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Mississippi  River.  The  earliest 

arrivals,  about  seven  hundred  and  fifty  in  number, 

settled  at  St.  Louis  and  in  Perry  County,  Missouri,  in 

February,  1839.  St.  Louis  thus  became 

the  chief  gate  of  entrance  for  the  great  Beginnings 
,  ~  , .  -■  in  Missouri 

stream  of  German  immigration  and 

the  headquarters  for  the  shepherding  of  these  Luth¬ 
eran  multitudes  into  congregations.  The  first  group 
of  newcomers  came  from  Saxony.  They  were  char¬ 
acterized  both  by  their  intense  pietism  and  their  strict 
Lutheran  orthodoxy.  They  had  left  Saxony  because  of 
the  rationalism  that  prevailed  in  the  official  Church 
circles  there.  The  leader  of  the  immigrants  was  Martin 
Stephan,  a  man  of  remarkable  personality  and  great 
organizing  ability,  who  had  been  pastor  of  St.  John’s 
Church  in  Dresden.  Feeling  himself  hampered  by  his 
ecclesiastical  connections  in  Saxony,  Stephan  decided 
to  gather  a  company  of  followers  and  emigrate.  After 


152  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


conference  and  correspondence  with  Dr.  Benjamin 
Kurtz,  who  had  been  in  Germany  to  collect  for  the 
Gettysburg  Seminary,  he  determined  to  lead  his  com¬ 
pany  to  America.  A  glowing  description  of  Missouri 
which  he  happened  to  read  fixed  his  choice  on  that 
state  as  his  location. 

But  very  shortly  after  the  Saxons  arrived  in  Mis¬ 
souri  Stephan  was  convicted  of  gross  wickedness  and 
expelled  from  the  colony.  The  leadership  of  the  entire 
settlement  of  Missouri  Lutherans  then  fell  upon  the 
youthful  C.  F.  W.  Walther.  He  was  one  of  the  six 
pastors  who  had  accompanied  the  first  group  of  im¬ 
migrants.  From  1839  until  his  death  in  1887  the 
history  of  Missouri  Lutheranism  is  closely  identified 
with  the  story  of  Walther’s  life  and  he  takes  his  place 
with  Muhlenberg,  Schmucker  and  Krauth  in  the  quar¬ 
tet  of  the  most  outstanding  personalities  in  the  life 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America. 

Walther  was  born  in  Saxony  in  1811,  in  an  old 
family  of  ministers.  He  studied  at  the  University  of 
Leipsic  where  rationalism  then  held  sway.  But  he 
belonged  to  a  little  band  of  students  who  refused  to 
accept  the  popular  rationalism  of  the  day  and  culti¬ 


vated  their  spiritual  lives  by  studying 
the  Bible  and  other  books  of  devotion. 
In  his  father’s  library  he  found 


C.  F.  W. 
Walther 


Luther’s  works  and  these  he  read  with  eagerness. 
After  teaching  a  few  years  he  became  pastor 
of  Braunsdorf,  Saxony,  in  1837.  But  here  his 
evangelical  position  soon  involved  him  in  diffi¬ 
culties  with  his  rationalistic  superiors.  The  oath 


IMMIGRATION  AND  CONFESSIONAL  REACTION  153 


of  his  office  bound  him  to  the  Book  of  Concord,  but 
this  was  a  farce,  for  the  entire  liturgy,  the  hymn-book 
and  the  catechism  that  he  was  compelled  to  use  were 
rationalistic  and  so  were  the  text-books  in  the  schools. 
His  conscience  was  sorely  oppressed  by  the  situation. 
His  efforts  to  introduce  Lutheran  doctrine  and  practice 
met  with  determined  opposition.  General  religious 
conditions  were  deplorable  and  the  young  pastor’s 
position  was  intolerable.  Accordingly  he  welcomed 
most  heartily  the  invitation  to  help  establish  an  ideal 
Church  in  America.  His  talent  and  his  training  had 
prepared  him  for  a  great  work  in  the  land  of  his 
adoption. 

The  exposure  and  banishment  of  their  false  leader 
left  the  Missouri  colonists  in  great  distress.  Stephan 
had  squandered  the  money  in  the  general  treasury  and 
poverty  stared  them  in  the  face.  But  even  more  seri¬ 
ous  was  the  spiritual  confusion  that  overtook  them. 
They  had  followed  a  false  guide.  How 
could  they  justify  their  course  before  Distress  and 

the  world  and  before  their  own  con¬ 
sciences?  Some  of  the  pastors,  Walther  among  them, 
began  to  doubt  their  call  to  the  ministry.  Some  thought 
they  should  return  to  Germany.  Many  of  the  colonists 
felt  that  it  was  contrary  to  God’s  will  that  they 
had  come  to  America.  They  doubted  that  they  were 
really  Christians  or  that  the  true  Church  of  Christ 
existed  among  them  at  all.  Divisions  began  to  appear 
among  them.  The  confusion  and  distress  of  conscience 
were  indescribable. 

It  was  Walther  who  was  the  divine  agent  to  save  the 


154  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


colonists  from  complete  despair.  He  had  continued  his 
study  of  Luther  and  the  Lutheran  theologians,  and  early 
in  1841  he  was  ready  to  clarify  the  issues.  By  a  series 


of  propositions  which  he  successfully 
maintained  in  debate  he  showed  that 
the  Church  consists  of  an  invisible 
communion  of  saints,  that  where 


Walther 

Restores 

Confidence 


the  true  faith  is,  there  the  true  Church  is, 
irrespective  of  the  continuity  of  human  organiza¬ 
tion,  and  that  consequently  these  congregations 
of  the  colonists  through  their  knowledge  of  the 
Christian  truth  must  be  regarded  as  part  of  the 
true  Church  of  Christ  and  have  full  authority  to  call 
pastors.  This  not  only  quieted  the  minds  of  the  colon¬ 
ists  but  also  established  the  fundamental  principles 
concerning  the  Church  and  its  organization  which 
have  characterized  the  Missouri  Synod  to  this  day. 

A  few  weeks  later  Walther  accepted  the  call  to  the 
congregation  in  St.  Louis,  which  was  to  become  the 
mother  church  of  the  Missouri  Synod  and  the  main¬ 
spring  of  all  its  activities  in  missions  and  benevolence. 


Here  he  gained  a  high  reputation  as 
a  preacher.  But  his  talents  were  soon 
to  be  called  to  educational  and  execu- 


Begins  Work 
in  St.  Louis 


tive  work.  In  1844  he  began  the  publication  of  Der 
Lutlieraner  to  defend  the  Church  of  the  Reformation 
against  attack  and  to  expound  the  doctrines  and  prin¬ 
ciples  of  Lutheranism.  This  attracted  wide  attention 
to  his  work  and  to  the  doctrinal  positions  of  the  Luth¬ 
erans  in  Missouri. 

The  stream  of  German  immigration  continued  to 


IMMIGRATION  AND  CONFESSIONAL  REACTION  155 


Missouri 

Synod 


flow  with  constantly  increasing  volume,  and  in  1846 
steps  were  taken  to  form  a  new  synod.  The  organiza¬ 
tion  was  effected  the  next  year  at  Chicago,  and  Walther 
became  the  first  president  of  the  “Ger¬ 
man  Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod  of 
Missouri,  Ohio  and  other  States.” 

This  organization,  numbering  at  first  only  twelve  con¬ 
gregations  and  twenty-two  pastors,  was  soon  to  be¬ 
come  the  center  and  head  of  the  largest  and  most  vigor¬ 
ous  body  of  Lutherans  in  America.  Already  at  the 
time  of  Walther’s  death  (1887)  the  Synod  numbered 
about  fifteen  hundred  congregations  and  nearly  a  thou¬ 
sand  ministers,  while  the  Lutheraner  had  a  circulation 
of  nearly  twenty  thousand.  Representation  in  the 
synod  is  by  congregations  and  no  synodical  resolutions 
are  in  force  until  they  are  ratified  by  the  congrega¬ 
tions.  The  confessional  basis  of  the  new  synod  was 
stated  to  be  all  the  symbolical  books  as  “the  pure  and 
uncorrupted  explanation  and  statement  of  the  Divine 
Word.”  Parochial  schools  were  established.  Inspection 
of  congregations  by  district  presidents  was  provided 
for.  And  every  possible  safeguard  was  erected  to 
maintain  purity  of  Lutheran  faith  and  practice.  The 
constitution  and  the  entire  spirit  of  this  influential 
body  came  from  the  mind  and  heart  of  its  youthful 
first  president. 

But  meanwhile  other  streams  of  Lu-  other 
theran  immigrants  had  come  into  the  immigrant 
country.  They  were  akin  in  spirit  to  Lutherans 
the  Saxons  of  Missouri.  Some  of  them  helped  to  organ¬ 
ize  the  Missouri  Synod  in  1846  and  the  Synodical 


156  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Conference  in  1872,  but  most  of  them  held  aloof  or 
separated  from  the  Missourians  and  organized  inde¬ 
pendent  synods.  Their  history  we  must  now  sketch. 

When  in  1817  the  King  of  Prussia  began  his  efforts 
to  unite  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed  in  his  kingdom 
into  the  “Prussian  Union”  he  only  succeeded  in  reviv¬ 
ing  the  lines  of  difference  between  the  two  confessions. 


And  when  in  1830  a  royal  decree  abol¬ 
ished  the  old  church  books  and  sought 
to  enforce  a  uniform  liturgy  that  was 


Buffalo 

Synod 


neither  Lutheran  nor  Reformed,  some  of  the  most 
orthodox  Lutherans  separated  from  the  State  Church 
and  were  called  “Old  Lutherans.”  When  they  were 
persecuted  in  Prussia  many  of  them  emigrated  to 
America.  The  first  company  came  in  July,  1839.  Their 
leader  was  Pastor  Grabau  of  Erfurt.  They  numbered 
nearly  a  thousand  and  settled  in  and  near  Buffalo, 
New  York,  a  few  months  after  the  Saxon  Lutherans 
had  reached  Missouri.  For  a  short  time  it  was  hoped 
that  some  kind  of  union  might  be  effected  between 
these  two  bands  of  orthodox  Lutheran  colonists.  But 
in  December,  1840,  Pastor  Grabau  sent  a  pastoral 
letter  to  vacant  congregations  warning  them  against 
ministers  who  had  not  been  properly  ordained.  Some 
of  the  views  set  forth  in  this  letter  gave  offense  in 
Missouri.  Walther  detected  the  same  false  views  of 
the  ministry  and  of  the  Church  whose  fatal  conse¬ 
quences  he  had  witnessed  in  Stephan.  This  and  other 
errors  of  the  Buffalo  Lutherans  he  regarded  as  thor¬ 
oughly  Romanizing.  The  result  was  a  long  and  bitter 


IMMIGRATION  AND  CONFESSIONAL  REACTION  157 

controversy  between  the  two  pastors  and  their  respec¬ 
tive  followers.  In  1853  Walther  founded  the  monthly 
theological  journal,  Lehre  und  Wehre,  which  he  used 
as  his  chief  medium  of  discussion.  The  Missourians 
succeeded  in  convincing  a  considerable  number  of 
pastors  and  congregations  among  the  “Prussian  Luth¬ 
erans”  and  in  1867  a  majority  of  their  pastors  joined 
Missouri.  This  made  the  conflict  very  caustic.  The 
Buffalo  Synod  was  organized  in  1845  and  began  to 
train  its  own  pastors.  It  was  very  rigid  in  doctrine 
and  discipline.  It  has  not  grown  very  rapidly  and  has 
barely  succeeded  in  holding  the  descendants  of  the 
original  colonists. 

Another  independent  body  of  Lutherans  growing 
out  of  the  immigration  in  this  period  is  the  “Synod  of 
Iowa  and  other  States.”  It  was  organized  in  1854 
and  was  a  breach  in  the  rank  of  the  Missourians.  Rev. 
William  Loehe,  pastor  at  Neuendettel- 

-r~»  .  ,  ,  ,  .  ,  ,  .  Iowa  Synod 

sau,  Bavaria,  took  great  interest  m 
developing  the  Lutheran  Churches  in  America.  In  his 
own  institutions  he  began  to  prepare  men  for  the  min¬ 
istry  in  America  and  later  was  instrumental  in  estab¬ 
lishing  a  theological  seminary  at  Fort  Wayne.  His 
graduates  entered  the  service  of  the  Missouri  Synod. 
But  after  1850  a  misunderstanding  arose  between 
Loehe  and  the  Missourians.  Walther  and  his  brethren 
discovered  in  the  writings  of  Loehe  and  in  the  views 
of  his  followers  the  same  errors  concerning  the  Church 
and  the  ministry  that  they  had  so  long  debated  with 
the  Buffalo  men.  Walther  went  to  Germany  and  had 
a  personal  conference  with  Loehe,  but  the  spirit  of 


158  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


divergence  was  abroad  in  the  land  and  no  permanent 
agreement  was  reached.  The  pupils  of  Loehe  in 
America  proceeded  to  organize  the  Iowa  Synod  in 
1854.  They  feared  that  the  extreme  Congregational¬ 
ism  of  Missouri  would  overthrow  all  church  order. 
On  the  question  of  the  ministerial  office  they  took  a 
position  mid-way  between  Buffalo  and  Missouri.  They 
protested  against  what  they  called  “a  legalistic  misuse 
of  the  symbols”  on  the  part  of  the  Missourians.  The 
Iowa  Synod  firmly  adheres  to  all  the  symbolical  books 
but  insists  that  there  are  certain  “open  questions,” 
that  is,  doctrines  that  are  not  articles  of  faith  and 
that  should  not  be  used  to  prevent  fellowship  of  pulpit 
and  altar  among  Lutherans.  The  chief  spirits  in  the 
early  history  of  the  body  were  the  Fritschel  brothers, 
Sigmund  and  Gottfried.  The  Dubuque  Seminary  has 
been  the  main  source  of  ministerial  supply  and  the 
work  of  the  synod  extends  over  a  very  wide  territory. 

Before  the  end  of  this  period  the  Missouri  Synod 
had  spread  all  over  the  country  and  was  making  its 
influence  tell  potently  for  more  conservative  Luther¬ 
anism  than  that  of  the  older  bodies  in  the  East.  Never 
for  a  minute  did  they  depend  upon  any  historical 


succession  of  ministry  from  Europe. 
From  the  very  beginning  they  estab¬ 
lished  their  own  educational  institu¬ 
tions  and  prepared  their  own  pastors. 


Missouri 
College  and 
Seminary 


The  modern  “institution  of  instruction  and  education,” 
that  began  in  1889,  a  few  months  after  their  arrival 
in  America,  became  a  well  equipped  college  in  1850 
with  Walther  as  president  and  professor  of  theology. 


IMMIGRATION  AND  CONFESSIONAL  REACTION  159 


It  was  located  in  St.  Louis.  In  1861  the  college  was 
removed  to  Fort  Wayne  and  in  1874  to  Springfield, 
Illinois.  The  theological  department  remained  at  St. 
Louis  where  it  has  since  become  the  largest  Protestant 
seminary  in  America.  In  1850  Walther  retired  from 
the  presidency  of  the  synod  and  gave  all  his  time  to 
writing  and  teaching  and  thus  covered  a  wide  field 
with  the  influence  of  his  magnetic  personality. 

The  Missouri  Synod  became  the  rallying  point  for 

the  German  pastors  as  they  came  into  the  country 

with  the  multiplying  waves  of  immigration.  From 

all  parts  of  Germany  they  came.  The  North  Germans 

soon  outnumbered  the  Saxons,  and  the  University  of 

Goetingen  was  fully  as  well  represented  as  Leipsic. 

Many  of  the  men  were  highly  educated  and  many  were 

filled  with  missionary  zeal.  A  number 

of  long-established  American  congre-  Growth  of 

.  Missouri  Synod 

gations  with  their  pastors  were  also 

attracted  to  this  center  of  ultra-conservative  Luther¬ 
anism.  The  synod  increased  the  number  of  its  districts 
until  they  covered  the  whole  country  with  a  thorough 
organization.  It  soon  occupied  all  the  strategic  points 
in  the  great  Middle  West.  It  had  strong  outposts  in 
the  very  centers  of  the  older  bodies  in  the  East,  and  it 
was  looking  very  fondly  toward  the  Northwest  and  the 
Far  West.  In  1872  a  number  of  district  synods  united 
with  the  Missouri  Synod  to  form  the  Synodical  Con¬ 
ference.  The  organization  because  of  its  strictly  con¬ 
gregational  polity,  is  not  very  compact.  But  it  is 
thoroughly  homogeneous,  because  its  constant  em¬ 
phasis  has  been  on  purity  of  teaching  and  practice. 


160  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Walther’s  successor  as  president  of  the  Synod  was 
F.  C.  D.  Wyneken.  He  had  come  to  America  in  1838 
as  a  missionary  among  the  scattered  Germans.  He 
had  no  relations  with  the  Missouri  Lutherans  until 


he  read  the  first  issue  of  Walther’s 
Lutheraner  in  1844.  Then  he  ex¬ 
claimed,  “Thank  God!  There  are  still 


F.  C.  D. 
Wyneken 


some  Lutherans  in  America.”  Shortly  after  that  he 
severed  his  connections  with  the  General  Synod  and 
entered  into  membership  with  the  Synod  of  Missouri, 
where  he  soon  became  one  of  the  most  eminent  leaders. 

But  many  of  the  conservative  Lutherans  who  came 
to  America  at  this  time  and  found  their  way  into  the 
older  congregations  and  synods  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  country,  did  not  follow  Wyneken’s  example  and 


withdraw  from  these  connections 
when  they  learned  of  the  Missouri 
Synod  but  remained  where  they  were 
and  made  vigorous  contribution  of 


Immigration 
Into  the 
Older  Bodies 


their  loyal  Lutheran  spirit  to  these  less  conservative 
bodies.  A  number  of  influential  Wuertembergers 
joined  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium  and  helped  to 
deepen  the  current  of  confessional  loyalty.  More  of 
the  North  Germans  went  into  the  New  York  Minis¬ 
terium,  with  a  similar  result.  Others,  imbued  with 
a  lively  Lutheran  consciousness,  came  from  Germany 
and  took  their  places  in  less  conspicuous  sections  of  the 
General  Synod.  These  elements  did  not  initiate  the 
confessional  reaction  among  the  Lutherans  in  the 
East;  they  only  helped  to  swell  the  tide  of  confes¬ 
sional  loyalty  that  long  before  had  begun  to  flow 


REX’.  C.  F.  XX'.  XVALTHER 


IMMIGRATION  AND  CONFESSIONAL  REACTION  161 


from  a  renewed  study  of  the  Church’s  confessional 
writings. 

The  General  Synod  felt  the  confessional  reaction  in 
all  its  parts.  The  revolt  against  the  Prussian  Union 
in  Germany  inspired  thousands  of  pens,  and  their 
literary  products  bristling  with  Lutheran  orthodoxy 
were  eagerly  read  by  hundreds  of  American  Luth¬ 
eran  ministers  either  in  the  original 
or  in  translations  that  appeared  on  the  The 
pages  of  the  Evangelical  Review.  Ger-  Reaction 
man  theology  was  studied  and  Luth¬ 
eran  history  expounded  even  outside  the  Lutheran 
Church,  and  this  reacted  profoundly  on  the  English- 
speaking  portion  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  coun¬ 
try.  Walther’s  writings  in  the  Lutheraner  were  widely 
read  and  discussed  and  clearly  pointed  the  way  back  to 
historic  Lutheranism.  Loehe’s  Church  News  from 
North  America  frankly  criticized  the  liberal  element 
in  the  General  Synod  and  praised  the  growing  party 
of  conservative  Lutherans.  Everywhere  staunch  advo¬ 
cates  of  “old  Lutheranism”  arose  and  materially  in¬ 
fluenced  the  progress  of  events  in  the  Church.  Of 
course  the  movement  towards  historical  Lutheranism 
encountered  stout  resistance  at  various  points  and 
resulted  in  all  kinds  of  internal  discord.  But  conser¬ 
vative  principles  spread  like  a  contagion,  and  the  rising 
generation  of  ministers  soon  caught  it.  Men  spoke 
of  the  period  as  “the  present  transition  state  of  the 
Church,”  and  such  it  was. 

Another  stream  of  Lutheran  immigration  in  this 
period  that  helped  swell  the  tide  of  confessional  re- 
11 


162  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Scandinavian 

Immigration 


action  came  from  the  Scandinavian 
countries.  The  great  volume  of  Scan¬ 
dinavian  immigration  belongs  to  our 


next  period,  but  the  beginnings  are  found  here. 

The  Norwegians  came  first.  In  the  thirties  they 
began  to  settle  in  northern  Illinois.  The  next  decade 
they  came  in  larger  numbers  to  Wisconsin.  They  did 
not  come  because  of  religious  motives,  as  so  many  of 
the  Germans  had  come,  and  the  consequence  was  that 


there  was  great  spiritual  destitution 
among  them.  In  1843  Rev.  C.  L. 


Norwegians 


Claussen  came  to  labor  among  them,  and  the  next  year 
Rev.  J.  C.  W.  Dietrichsen  joined  him.  In  1853  the3r 
organized  the  “Norwegian  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church  in  America.1 ”  This  body  was  strongly  influ¬ 
enced  by  the  Missouri  Synod  and  co-operated  in  the 
Seminary  at  St.  Louis.  Other  Norwegians  united  with 
Swedes  in  the  Northern  Illinois  Synod  which  be¬ 
longed  to  the  General  Synod.  Still  others  followed  the 
practice  of  revivalism  and  organized  small  independent 
synods,  such  as  the  Eielsen  and  Hauge’s. 

Swedish  immigration  began  to  flow  perceptibly  in 
the  fifth  decade.  The  Swedes  have  always  kept  in 
closer  touch  with  the  Americanized  part  of  the  Luth¬ 
eran  Church  than  the  Norwegians  have.  Rev.  L.  P. 
Esbjorn  came  over  from  Sweden  in  1849  to  minister 


to  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  immi¬ 
grants.  He  received  much  help  and 


Swedes 


encouragement  from  Dr.  Passavant  and  others  in  the 
eastern  bodies.  The  earliest  Swedes  were  connected 
with  the  Synod  of  Northern  Illinois  and  Esbjorn  became 


IMMIGRATION  AND  CONFESSIONAL  REACTION  163 

the  Scandinavian  professor  of  theology  in  the  Lutheran 
school  at  Springfield,  Illinois.  The  Swedes  were 
strictly  confessional  in  their  Lutheranism.  When  in 
1860  events  within  the  General  Synod  made  them  feel 
insecure  they  dissolved  their  union  with  the  Synod  of 
Northern  Illinois  and  severed  their  connection  with 
the  Illinois  State  University.  That  same  year  twenty- 
seven  pastors  and  forty-nine  congregations  founded  the 
Augustana  Synod  and  established  Augustana  College. 
They  thus  gave  notice  that  they  intended  to  adhere 
strictly  to  the  fundamental  creed  of  Lutheranism.  At 
the  same  time  they  prepared  themselves,  as  no  other 
organization  could  have  done,  to  gather  into  their  Luth¬ 
eran  fellowship  the  great  multitude  of  their  country¬ 
men  who  were  to  come  to  America  in  the  next  period. 
The  inner  development  of  this  vigorous  body  of  conser¬ 
vative  Lutherans  calls  for  more  detailed  presentation 
in  connection  with  the  next  period  of  our  history. 

Such  were  the  beginnings  and  the  characteristics  of 
the  great  body  of  Lutheran  immigrants  in  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century.  The  total  effect  of  their  coming  was 
profound  and  historically  significant.  This  strong  in¬ 
fusion  of  confessional  elements  into 
the  body  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  Effects  of 

*  •  ,  i  , .  .  ,  ,  Immigration 

America  not  only  stimulated  the  con¬ 
fessional  reaction  in  the  older  organizations  of 
American  Lutherans,  but  it  also  stamped  the  Lutheran 
Church  as  a  whole  in  the  eyes  of  all  other  Churches 
in  this  country  as  indelibly  evangelical  and  forever 
doctrinally  conservative. 

The  large  and  sudden  increase  in  Lutheran  numbers 


164  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


compelled  the  attention  of  the  other  Churches  in 
America  and  forced  them  to  recognize  the  Lutheran 
Church  as  one  of  the  greatest  and  by  far  the  most 


rapidly  growing  of  the  Protestant 
Churches  in  this  country.  These  new 
Lutherans  came  without  pomp  or  cir¬ 
cumstance  and  took  their  places  quietly 
in  the  land.  Their  genuine  spirituality, 


Place  of 
Lutherans  in 
American 
Christianity 


the  solidity  of  their  church  life,  and  the  vigor  and 
warmth  of  their  piety  were  patent  to  all  who  came  to 
know  them.  They  were  untrained  in  the  habits  of  free 
churches  and  humbled  both  by  the  circumstances  of 
their  emigration  from  Europe  and  by  their  strange 
surroundings  when  they  arrived  in  the  New  World. 
But  their  training  in  the  equable,  systematic  and 
methodical  ways  of  State  Churches,  and  their  constant 
emphasis  on  thorough  religious  instruction  and  indoc¬ 
trination  insured  them  against  the  irregular  fervor  of 
that  revivalism  that  periodically  burned  over  their 
neighbor  churches.  It  helped  to  guarantee  their  inde¬ 
pendence  and  permanence  in  their  adopted  land.  They 
had  much  to  learn  in  matters  of  Church  organization 
and  administration  and  in  the  course  of  time  they 
did  learn  their  lessons  along  these  lines.  But  from 
the  beginning  they  also  had  much  to  teach  to  American 
Christianity  in  general  on  methods  of  theology  and 
usages  of  worship,  and  their  teaching  has  long  since 
yielded  visible  results.  Their  unflinching  loyalty  to 
the  Lutheran  confessions  made  them  impervious  to  the 
religious  whims  that  blew  over  most  of  the  other 
Churches  from  time  to  time,  and  what  has  often  been 


IMMIGRATION  AND  CONFESSIONAL  REACTION  165 

interpreted  as  lukewarmness  in  the  presence  of  a  great 
general  inspiration  is  now  seen  in  the  perspective  of 
several  generations  to  be  the  reliable  spirit  of  inten¬ 
sive  confessional  loyalty  that  is  the  guarantee  of  steady 
but  certain  progress. 

That  this  characteristic  spirit  of  conservatism  should 
have  been  stamped  upon  the  Church  so  forcibly  during 
this  discordant  middle  age  of  the  nineteenth  century 
was  an  accident  of  circumstances  and 
must  not  be  taken  to  mean  that  Conservatism 

Characteristic 

pugnacity  and  controversy  and  de¬ 
nominational  competition  are  necessary  accompani¬ 
ments  of  Church  loyalty  and  doctrinal  conservatism. 
But  this  fact  could  become  manifest  only  in  the  course 
of  subsequent  periods  of  history. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
“AMERICAN  LUTHERANISM” 


The  rising  tide  of  positive  Lutheranism  aroused 
opposition  in  some  of  the  older  bodies  of  the  Muhlen¬ 
berg  descent.  The  confessional  movement  found  its 
antithesis  in  what  was  called  “American  Lutheran¬ 
ism.”  This  was  a  Lutheranism  that  was  strongly 


modified  by  the  Puritan  element  of 
American  Christianity  and  was  unable 
to  shake  off  the  denominational  indif- 
ferentism  that  had  prevailed  in  the 


Opposing  the 

Confessional 

Movement 


youth  of  the  Republic.  There  were  those  who  failed 
to  see  that  the  conservative  type  of  Lutheranism  would 
restore  to  the  Church  something  of  the  ardor  and 
earnestness  of  Muhlenberg  and  his  co-laborers.  They 
felt  that  such  a  strong  infusion  of  historic  Lutheran¬ 
ism  would  tend  to  divest  the  Church  of  all  spirituality 
and  aggressiveness.  They  viewed  with  sincere  alarm 
the  confessional  reaction  that  so  completely  covered 
the  horizon,  and  they  set  themselves  steadfastly  and 
methodically  to  resist  it.  To  that  end  they  proposed 
a  modification  of  historic  Lutheranism,  its  confessions 
and  its  practices,  so  as  to  infuse  into  it  the  vigor  of 
Presbyterianism  and  the  warmth  of  Methodism.  In 
short,  they  sought  to  adapt  Lutheranism  to  American 
soil  by  divesting  it  of  its  distinctive  traits  and  making 
it  conform  to  the  average  American  type  of  religion. 

These  advocates  of  “American  Lutheranism”  were 
a  small  group,  always  in  the  minority  both  in  the 


166 


“AMERICAN  LUTHERANISM"”  167 

district  synods  and  in  the  General 

Synod,  but  they  were  exceedingly  pa^yn°rity 

active  and  aggressive  and  their  leaders 

were  among  the  most  influential  men  in  the  General 

Synod.  They  refused  to  be  silenced  by  the  growing 

strength  of  the  conservatives. 

The  real  test  of  strength  between  these  two  antith¬ 
eses  within  the  General  Synod  came  about  the  middle 
of  the  century.  The  conservative  wing  in  the  general 
body  had  been  growing  steadily  for  some  years.  By 
the  year  1850  it  was  clearly  in  the  ascendancy.  This 
fact  was  noted  by  European  observers. 

Apart  from  the  powerful  conservative 
influences  coming  from  new  Lutheran 
bodies  in  the  West,  several  weighty 
factors  favored  the  increase  of  tradi¬ 
tional  Lutheranism  in  the  General  Synod.  The  Book 
of  Concord  that  had  been  translated  into  English  by 
the  Henkels  of  the  Tennessee  Synod  was  being  widely 
circulated  and  studied.  Influential  men  were  studying 
the  contemporary  literature  of  Germany,  particularly 
the  writings  of  the  rigid  Lutheran  theologians  opposed 
to  the  Prussian  Union.  Schmidt’s  “Dogmatic  The¬ 
ology”  was  studied  and  a  translation  into  English  was 
begun.  Church  papers  were  founded  to  feed  the  appe¬ 
tite  for  positive  Lutheran  literature.  The  Evangelical 
Review,  edited  after  1850  by  Prof.  Charles  Philip 
Krauth  of  the  Gettysburg  Seminary,  was  an  effective 
medium  for  presenting  sound  Lutheran  theology  to 
English  readers.  The  Lutheran  Standard  of  Colum¬ 
bus,  Ohio,  was  firmly  pleading  for  fidelity  to  the  con- 


The 

Conservative 
Wing  of  the 
General  Synod 


168  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


fessions.  Dr.  Passavant’s  paper,  The  Missionary , 
carried  many  positive  and  convincing  theological 
articles  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Charles  Porterfield  Krauth. 
The  result  of  these  and  other  facts  enumerated  in  the 
preceding  chapter  was  the  dominance  in  the  General 
Synod  of  the  conservative  party,  a  party  which  in  its 
confessional  advance  went  far  beyond  the  position  of 
the  General  Synod  at  the  time  of  its  founding.  In 
consequence  of  this  some  of  the  very  men  who  had 
helped  to  sustain  the  General  Synod  in  the  twenties 
as  a  bulwark  of  Lutheranism,  a  defence  against  union¬ 
ism  and  rationalism,  now  reacted  against  the  positive 
Lutheran  position  assumed  by  the  majority  in  that 
body.  And  in  their  reaction  they  became  more  lax 
in  the  fifties  than  they  had  been  in  the  twenties  and 
constituted  what  was  called  “the  left  wing  of  the 
General  Synod.” 

One  of  the  leading  advocates  of  “American  Luth¬ 
eranism”  was  Dr.  S.  S.  Schmucker,  the  head  of  the 
Gettysburg  Seminary.  We  have  already  seen  how 
zealous  he  was  in  his  early  ministry  for  the  Lutheran 
Church  and  the  Augsburg  Confession.  His  enthusiasm 
for  the  General  Synod  in  its  infancy,  his  energetic  exer¬ 
tions  to  save  that  body  from  dissolution  in  1823,  his 

translation  of  Storr  and  Flatt’s  “Bibli- 

Schmucker’s  cal  Theology,”  his  many  literary  labors 

Senace  to  the  ^o  ma^e  the  Lutheran  Church  known 
Church 

to  those  beyond  her  bounds,  his  activi¬ 
ties  in  establishing  and  directing  a  theological  semi¬ 
nary  and  a  college  for  the  more  adequate  training  of 
a  native  American  ministry — all  these  are  unmistak- 


“AMERICAN  LUTHERANISM"  169 

able  evidences  of  his  loyalty  to  the  Lutheran  Church 
and  his  merit  in  maintaining  her  identity  in  this  coun¬ 
try  in  those  critical  times.  The  professor’s  pledge 
which  he  prepared  for  the  constitution  of  the  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary  in  1825  and  the  model  constitution 
for  district  synods  which  he  drafted  for  the  General 
Synod  four  years  later,  show  that  in  his  confessional 
position  at  that  time  he  was  more  positively  Luth¬ 
eran  than  most  of  his  contemporaries.  For  several 
decades  his  great  influence  was  exerted  on  behalf  of 
conservatism. 

But  there  were  elements  in  Dr.  Schmucker’s  dispo¬ 
sition  and  training  that  made  it  impossible  for  him  to 
keep  ahead  of  the  confessional  advance  that  came  in 
the  forties  and  fifties.  In  his  father’s  home  he  had 
acquired  a  distinct  pietistic  strain.  Under  Dr.  Hel- 
muth’s  instruction  he  had  imbibed  an  aversion  for 
sharp  theological  definitions.  At 
Princeton  Seminary,  where  he  studied  Hls  Llberal 

Tendency 

for  two  years,  his  training  measurably 
influenced  his  theological  views.  His  associations  at  this 
institution,  while  they  stimulated  his  zeal  for  his  own 
Church,  nevertheless  produced  within  him  a  broad¬ 
mindedness  and  tolerance  towards  non-Lutherans  that 
was  destined  to  clash  with  the  spirit  of  denominational 
exclusiveness  that  came  to  prevail  about  the  middle 
of  the  century.  In  1838  he  issued  his  “Fraternal 
Appeal  to  the  American  Churches,”  calling  for  the 
reunion  of  the  Churches  on  “the  apostolic  basis.”  He 
was  prominently  identified  with  the  formation  in  1846 
of  the  “Evangelical  Alliance,”  a  union  of  individual 


170  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Christians  to  promote  religious  toleration  and  to 
counteract  Romanism  and  infidelity.  That  same  year 
he  helped  to  send  a  circular  letter  to  Germany  dis¬ 
paraging  the  Lutheran  view  of  the  Lord’s  Supper 
and  indicating  points  of  similarity  between  the  General 
Synod  and  the  Prussian  Union.  More  and  more  his 
public  utterances  indicated  his  dissatisfaction  with  the 
general  trend  of  events  in  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
America  and  emphasized  “the  religion  of  the  spirit” 
as  against  the  “religion  of  forms.”  Dr.  Schmucker 
had  fallen  behind  in  the  progress  of  conservative  Luth¬ 
eranism  and  had  lost  his  leadership  in  the  General 
Synod.  Even  in  his  own  institutions  at  Gettysburg 
more  conservative  elements  began  to  prevail.  The 
reaction  made  him  a  leader  of  the  opposition  to  the 
confessional  movement  and  increasingly  lax  with  ad¬ 
vancing  years.  It  alienated  many  of  his  former  friends 
and  clouded  the  evening  of  his  days. 

Other  leading  advocates  of  “American  Lutheranism” 
were  Dr.  Benjamin  Kurtz  and  Dr.  Samuel  Sprecher. 
Dr.  Kurtz  was  the  stormy  petrel  of  the  movement,  a 
keen  debater  and  vigorous  writer.  As  editor  of  the 

Lutheran  Observer  from  1833  to  1861 
Benjamin  he  exerted  a  tremendous  influence  on 

urtz 

the  English-speaking  portion  of  the 
Church.  During  these  years  the  pages  of  that  paper 
brought  repeated  arraignments  of  Lutheran  positions, 
particularly  the  Lutheran  confessions.  Even  the  Augs¬ 
burg  Confession  was  subjected  to  serious  criticism.  All 
liturgical  worship  was  denounced  as  formalism.  Re¬ 
vival  methods  were  zealously  advocated,  and  personal 


u 


AMERICAN  LUTHERANISM 


171 


Samuel 

Sprecher 


piety  was  exalted  above  everything  else.  Those  who 
opposed  these  so-called  “new  measures”  were  called 
“head  Christians”  and  “catechism  Christians.”  Dr. 
Kurtz  was  sure  that  “proscriptive  intolerance”  lay  on 
the  side  of  what  he  called  the  “Old  Lutheran  System” 
and  to  this  he  opposed  the  “evangelical”  methods  of 
“American  Lutheranism.” 

Dr.  Sprecher  had  been  trained  by  Dr.  Schmucker 
and  adopted  the  theological  views  of  his  teacher.  He 
was  a  brilliant  teacher  and  a  far  more  profound 
thinker  than  either  Schmucker  or  Kurtz.  As  president 
of  Wittenberg  College  for  twenty-five  years  he  exerted 
a  far-reaching  influence  on  behalf  of 
the  “new  measures”  and  a  modified 
Lutheranism.  The  institutions  at 
Springfield,  Ohio,  were  quite  pronounced  in  their 
advocacy  of  “American  Lutheranism”  as  they  were 
without  any  of  the  conservative  influences  that  coun¬ 
teracted  the  teaching  of  Dr.  Schmucker  at  Gettysburg. 

These  advocates  of  confessional  modification  and 
radical  measures  had  a  vigorous  following.  Their 
main  contention  was  that  the  Lutheran  Church  can 
have  a  national  development  on  American  soil  only 
by  adjusting  itself  to  its  environment.  By  this  they 
meant  that  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America  must 
make  wide  concessions  to  the  revival- 
istic  and  puritanic  spirit  of  the  sur¬ 
rounding  denominations.  The  party 
of  “American  Lutheranism”  was 
strongly  repelled  by  the  sharp  polemics  of  the  Missouri, 
Iowa  and  Buffalo  Synods.  Their  contact  with  the  anti- 


Position  of 

“American 

Lutheranism” 


172  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


religious  element  among  the  German  immigrants,  par¬ 
ticularly  those  who  came  in  the  revolutionary  year  of 
1848,  persuaded  them  that  a  Lutheranism  imported 
from  Germany  needed  to  be  strongly  modified  by 
home-made  practices  and  creeds  before  it  could  be 
expected  to  flourish  in  America.  In  its  emphasis  on 
Americanism  and  its  attitude  of  concession  towards 
other  denominations  this  movement  was  a  generation 
late,  but  in  its  controversial  spirit  it  was  thoroughly 
up-to-date.  Harsh  criticisms  were  uttered.  Unlovely 
epithets  abounded.  But  the  issues  at  stake  were  fought 
through  to  a  conclusion.  A  real  problem  was  involved 
in  the  antithesis  between  “American  Lutheranism’' 
and  the  confessional  reaction.  It  is  the  problem  of 
accommodating  Lutheranism  to  the  American  spirit. 
It  is  well  for  subsequent  history  that  both  sides  of 
the  controversy  were  so  ably  represented  before  the 
decision  was  reached.  It  gave  a  degree  of  finality  to 
the  decision. 

The  issue  was  squarely  joined.  The  growth  of  the 
strength  of  the  “conservatives”  increased  the  activities 
of  the  “liberals.”  The  Hartwick  Synod  was  formed 
from  the  western  conference  of  the  New  York  Minis- 
terium  in  1830.  One  of  the  reasons  given  for  the 
new  organization  was  that  the  Ministerium  did  not 


sufficiently  favor  revivals.  In  the  doc¬ 
trinal  basis  of  this  Synod  as  set  down 
in  1837,  the  Augsburg  Confession  was 
essentially  modified  so  as  to  make  it 


Hartwick  and 

Franckean 

Synods 


conform  with  the  teaching  of  “all  Protestant  com¬ 
munions.”  But  already  in  1837  the  Hartwick  Synod 


“AMERICAN  LUTHERANISM”  173 

was  not  sufficiently  pious  and  “American”  for  some 
of  its  members,  and  four  of  them  separated  and  organ¬ 
ized  the  Franckean  Synod.  This  new  body  abandoned 
the  Augsburg  Confession  entirely  and  pressed  the  “new 
measures”  to  the  extreme.  As  it  occupied  the  same 
territory  as  the  Hartwick  Synod  the  result  was  a 
number  of  bitter  lawsuits  between  the  two.  The 
Franckean  Synod  long  afterwards  became  the  occasion 
of  disruption  in  the  General  Synod. 

Efforts  were  also  made  to  turn  back  the  confessional 
tide  in  the  older  synods  and  in  the  General  Synod. 
Dr.  Kurtz  was  a  member  of  the  Maryland  Synod  but 
he  tried  in  vain  to  commit  that  body  to  the  “new 
measures.”  As  to  the  confessions 
there  was  much  uncertainty  about  the  The  Maryland 

official  position  of  the  General  Synod.  “Abstract” 

The  confessional  basis  recommended 
to  the  district  synods  by  the  general  body  was  “that 
the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Word  of  God  are 
taught  in  a  manner  substantially  correct  in  the  doc¬ 
trinal  articles  of  the  Augsburg  Confession.”  But  great 
liberties  were  taken  with  the  words  “fundamental” 
and  “substantially  correct”  and  “doctrinal.”  In  order, 
therefore,  to  give  definiteness  to  the  pledge  of  the 
General  Synod,  Dr.  Baugher,  a  decidedly  conservative 
Lutheran  and  afterwards  president  of  Gettysburg  Col¬ 
lege,  proposed  in  1844  that  the  Maryland  Synod  pre¬ 
pare  an  “Abstract  of  Doctrines  and  Practices  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod  of  Maryland.”  The 
avowed  purpose  of  this  was  to  correct  “various  and 
repeated  misrepresentations  concerning  the  doctrines 


174  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


and  practices  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  the  United 
States.”  But  Dr.  Kurtz  got  control  of  the  committee 
appointed  to  prepare  the  “abstract”  and  the  synod 
refused  to  adopt  the  report  of  the  committee  because 
it  represented  a  modified  or  “American  Lutheranism” 
and  omitted  or  repudiated  all  distinctive  Lutheran 
teachings. 

Both  Dr.  Schmucker  and  Dr.  Sprecher  were  deeply 

interested  in  the  Maryland  Synod  “Abstract.”  The 

next  year  the  matter  was  submitted  to  the  General 

Synod  and  Dr.  Schmucker  was  made 

Rejected  by  the  chairman  of  a  committee  to  frame  “a 
General  Synod 

clear  and  concise  view  of  the  doctrines 
and  practices  of  the  American  Lutheran  Church.”  But 
the  General  Synod  no  longer  followed  Dr.  Schmucker’s 
lead  and  the  report  of  his  committee,  submitted  in 
1850,  closely  resembling  the  Maryland  Synod  “Ab¬ 
stract,”  was  rejected  by  the  General  Synod. 

Meanwhile  the  Church  in  general  continued  to  move 
in  the  direction  of  a  stricter  confessional  basis.  In 
1853  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium  applied  for  re¬ 
admission  to  the  General  Synod,  after  an  absence  of 
thirty  years,  and  was  admitted.  The  old  Ministerium 

had  made  rapid  confessional  strides 
since  1823  and  had  recently  come  to 
“acknowledge  the  collective  body  of 
symbolical  books  as  the  historico- 
confessional  writings  of  the  Evangeli¬ 
cal  Lutheran  Church”  though  giving 
special  preeminence  to  the  unaltered  Augsburg  Confes¬ 
sion  and  Luther’s  Small  Catechism.  The  cordial  wel- 


The 

Pennsylvania 
Ministerium 
Returns  to  the 
General  Synod 


175 


“AMERICAN  LUTHERANISM” 

come  of  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium  into  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Synod,  therefore,  was  another  proof  that  the 
General  Synod  was  making  progress  towards  more  ad¬ 
vanced  confessional  ground.  The  return  of  the 
mother  synod  and  the  admission  at  the  same  time  of 
the  Pittsburgh  Synod,  the  Synod  of  Northern  Illinois, 
and  the  Synod  of  Texas,  gave  still  greater  strength  to 
the  conservative  element  in  the  General  Synod. 

The  advocates  of  “American  Lutheranism”  now 
made  their  last  stand  against  the  general  awakening 
of  Lutheran  consciousness.  As  the  variety  of  interpre¬ 
tation  of  the  General  Synod’s  confessional  basis  con¬ 
tinued,  the  sentiment  increased  that  there  should  be 
some  way  of  standardizing  that  inter¬ 
pretation.  But  before  the  General  “Definite 
Synod  itself  could  proceed  to  amend  its  p^tform” 
constitution  there  was  published  a 
small  pamphlet  called  the  “Definite  Synodical  Plat¬ 
form.”  This  document  appeared  anonymously  in  Sep¬ 
tember,  1855,  and  was  sent  to  many  of  the  pastors. 
It  was  a  revision  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  and  the 
synods  were  urged  to  adopt  it  as  their  confessional 
basis.  It  claimed  to  find  a  number  of  errors  in  the 
Augsburg  Confession,  and  these  it  specified  as  follows : 
the  approval  of  the  mass,  private  confession  and  abso¬ 
lution,  denial  of  the  divine  obligation  of  the  Sabbath, 
baptismal  regeneration,  and  the  real  presence  of 
Christ’s  body  and  blood  in  the  Lord’s  Supper.  The 
articles  containing  these  “errors”  were  either  to  be 
modified  or  omitted.  The  “definite  platform”  claimed 
to  be  in  accord  with  the  General  Synod’s  basis  because 


176  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


it  did  not  omit  any  “fundamental  doctrine  of 
Scripture.” 

The  authorship  of  the  “definite  platform”  was  not 
hard  to  guess.  Dr.  Schmucker  afterwards  acknowl¬ 
edged  that  his  pen  had  drafted  it  and  given  it  the 
finished  form.  The  reception  accorded  the  document 
greatly  disappointed  its  authors.  Only  three  small 
synods  in  Ohio,  influenced  by  Dr.  Sprecher,  accepted 
it  temporarily.  Everywhere  else  it  was  vigorously 
rejected.  Dr.  Kurtz  stoutly  defended  it  in  the 


Observer  but  to  no  avail.  Everywhere 
writers  and  debaters  arose  to  defend 
the  Augustana.  Books  were  written 


Emphatically 

Rejected 


and  conferences  were  held,  even  among  the  newer 
Lutherans  of  Missouri  and  Ohio,  and  one  after  another 
the  district  synods  of  the  General  Synod  expressed 
unqualified  disapprobation  of  the  attempt  to  revise  the 
creed  of  generic  Lutheranism.  The  emphatic  rejection 
of  the  “definite  platform”  pronounced  the  doom  of 
“American  Lutheranism”  and  the  whole  episode  for¬ 
cibly  emphasized  the  real  conservatism  and  the  Luth¬ 
eran  orthodoxy  of  the  General  Synod  at  that  time. 

When  Dr.  Kurtz  found  himself  unable  to  resist  the 
conservative  doctrinal  tendency  of  the  Maryland  Synod 
he  withdrew  from  that  body  in  1857  and  with  several 


kindred  spirits  organized  the  Melanch- 
thon  Synod.  Dr.  Kurtz  had  the  pseudo- 
prophetic  zeal  that  so  often  possesses 


Melanchthon 

Synod 


those  who  know  they  are  in  the  minority.  The 
“declaration  of  faith”  for  this  new  synod  consisted  of 
the  doctrinal  standards  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance 


vy  •  -  v 


Benjamin  Kurtz,  D.D. 

F.  C.  D.  Wyneken 
F.  W.  Stellhorn,  D.D. 


OTHER  LEADERS 
W.  A.  Passavant,  D.D. 
Gottfried  Fritschel,  D.D. 
M.  Toy,  D.D. 


Prof.  T.  N.  Hasselquist.D.D. 

Sigmund  Fritschel,  D.D. 

J.  D.  Severinghaus,  D.D. 


“AMERICAN  LUTHERANISM”  177 

with  slight  modifications.  The  name  of  the  new  body 
is  significant.  Long  years  afterward  Dr.  Sprecher, 
who  lived  long  enough  to  see  and  acknowledge  the 
whole  mistake  in  “American  Lutheranism,”  called  the 
“Definite  Synodical  Platform”  “the  culmination  of 
Melanchthonianism.”  Such  it  was  and  the  organiza¬ 
tion  of  another  synod  in  the  territory  of  the  Maryland 
Synod  merely  on  the  basis  of  “elective  affinity”  was 
American  Lutheranism’s  declaration  of  ecclesiastical 
nullification  and  secession.  The  Melanchthon  Synod 
lasted  only  eleven  years.  At  its  largest  extent  it  em¬ 
braced  only  eleven  country  pastorates,  in  central  and 
western  Maryland.  It  was  admitted  to  the  General 
Synod  in  1859.  This  was  not  due  to  any  lack  of 
strength  on  the  part  of  the  conservative  element  in 
that  meeting  of  the  General  Synod,  but  to  the  fact 
that  Dr.  Charles  Porterfield  Krauth,  the  leading  theo¬ 
logian  among  the  conservatives,  was  concerned  to 
maintain  the  numerical  strength  of  the  general  body 
and  advocated  the  admission  of  the  new  synod  on 
certain  conditions  which  were  met.  The  Melanchthon 
Synod  was  warned  against  schism  and  requested  to 
withdraw  its  implied  charges  against  the  Augsburg 
Confession.  This  admission  of  the  Melanchthon  Synod 
was,  however,  one  of  the  fruitful  causes  of  the  rupture 
in  the  ranks  of  the  General  Synod  a  few  years  later. 

The  issue  was  settled.  “American  Lutheranism”  was 
definitely  defeated.  The  leading  advocates  of  a  modi¬ 
fied  Lutheranism  or  Melanchthonianism,  with  all  their 
great  personal  influence,  were  in  a  hopeless  minority. 
After  the  incident  of  the  “definite  platform”  their 
12 


178  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


influence  waned  rapidly.  It  was  the  registered  con¬ 
viction  of  the  great  host  of  Lutherans  in  America  that 


Lutheranism  can  live  and  flourish  in 
this  country  without  giving  away  its 
own  spirit  or  adulterating  its  own 
original  life  and  character.  The  future 


Definite  Defeat 
of  “American 
Lutheranism” 


of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America  was  to  belong  to 
the  conservative  type  of  Lutheranism.  It  was  worth 
much  to  have  that  decided  so  that  the  experiment  of 
“American  Lutheranism”  might  never  be  seriously 
undertaken  again.  The  Lutheran  Church  in  1860  was 
in  a  position,  barring  disruption  and  internal  contro¬ 
versies,  to  make  steady  and  rapid  progress  in  the  con¬ 
servation  of  her  faith  and  the  development  of  her 
doctrinal  resources. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

DISRUPTION  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  ultimate  defeat  of  “American  Lutheranism”  as 
a  movement  did  not  establish  the  peace  of  the  Church. 
The  variety  of  elements,  racial,  linguistic,  doctrinal 
and  personal,  that  were  found  in  the  Church  after  the 
middle  of  the  century  furnished  abundant  material  for 
internal  discord.  These  antagonistic 
elements  had  always  been  present  in  Elements  of 
the  Church  to  some  extent,  but 
hitherto  conciliation  and  mutual  tol¬ 
eration  had  been  the  order  of  the  day.  Now 
the  spirit  of  unrest  and  intolerance  was  abroad 
in  the  land.  That  spirit  was  aggravated  by 
racial  misunderstandings  and  the  friction  of  strong 
personalities.  Divisions  and  breaks  took  place  on  other 
than  doctrinal  and  practical  grounds.  It  was  a  day 
when  the  smallest  angle  of  difference  was  the  occasion 
for  controversy  and  strife.  The  members  of  the  same 
household  were  often  the  most  bitter  in  their  enmity 
against  one  another. 

We  have  already  seen  how  the  hot  fires  of  doctrinal 
controversy  raged  among  the  orthodox  Lutherans  who 
had  lately  come  from  Germany  and  organized  them¬ 
selves  in  Missouri,  Iowa  and  Buffalo.  These  debates 
continued  throughout  the  period  we  are  now  reviewing 
and  caused  many  a  division  and  re¬ 
alignment  of  organization.  Missouri  Questions 
debated  with  Buffalo  the  doctrines  of 


179 


180  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

the  ministry,  the  Church,  and  the  office  of  the  keys, 
and  the  question  concerning  the  ideal  relation  of  the 
Church  to  the  State.  This  controversy  resulted  in 
serious  disruption  among  the  men  and  congregations 
of  Buffalo.  With  Loehe  and  the  men  of  the  Iowa 
Synod,  Dr.  Walther  and  his  Missourians  debated  in 
addition  the  subject  of  “open  questions,”  the  binding 
character  of  the  confessions,  the  divine  obligation 
of  Sunday,  the  right  to  take  interest,  whether  the 
Pope  is  the  anti-Christ,  and  other  points  of  difference. 
But  the  most  bitter  controversy  and  the  one  that  led 
to  disruption  in  the  ranks  of  the  Missourians,  was  that 
concerning  predestination.  It  continued  far  beyond 
the  period  we  are  now  studying.  It  involved  the  Ohio 
Synod  and  the  Norwegians  as  well  as  the  men  of  Iowa 
and  even  aroused  some  of  the  theologians  of  the  older 
bodies  in  the  East.  It  resulted  in  a  division  in  the 
St.  Louis  faculty,  the  separation  of  the  Norwegians 
from  the  Missouri  Synod,  further  divisions  among  the 
Norwegians  themselves,  the  withdrawal  of  the  Joint 
Synod  of  Ohio  from  the  Synodical  Conference,  and  the 
exodus  of  a  number  of  German  pastors  from  Missouri 
to  join  Ohio.  The  literature  produced  by  these  con¬ 
troversies  and  breaks  was  enormous,  and  the  spirit  of 
exclusiveness  and  fraction  was  fed  to  a  surfeit. 

Meanwhile  the  process  of  division  had  gone  on  apace 
among  the  Lutherans  of  Muhlenberg  descent.  New 
synods  were  formed,  not  in  amity  and  peace  as  in  the 
preceding  period,  but  in  the  spirit  of  secession  and 
protest.  The  formation  of  two  new  synods  in  the 
territory  of  the  New  York  Ministerium,  the  Hartwick 


DISRUPTION  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 


181 


in  1830  and  the  Franckean  in  1837,  led  to  vigorous 
protests  from  the  Mother  Synod  and  serious  conflicts 
between  the  two  children.  In  Ohio  a 
number  of  pastors  of  the  Joint  Synod  Competing 
became  dissatisfied  with  the  atti-  Synods 
tude  of  that  body  on  the  language  question  and  other 
matters  and  in  1836  they  withdrew  and  formed  the 
East  Ohio  Synod.  This  was  only  the  beginning  of 
divisions  in  that  State,  so  that  in  the  end  all  the  ele¬ 
ments  of  Muhlenberg  descent  that  had  entered  into  the 
original  Synod  of  Ohio  in  1818  separated  and  formed 
other  bodies.  Angry  charges  of  “intolerance,  oppres¬ 
sion  and  inconsistency”  were  frequently  heard  there. 
East  of  the  Susquehanna  there  was  serious  dissatis¬ 
faction  in  the  ranks  of  the  Ministerium  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania.  This  was  due  partly  to  the  exclusive  use  of 
German  in  the  sessions  of  the  Ministerium,  partly  to 
the  confessional  and  liturgical  tendency  of  the  Minis¬ 
terium,  and  partly  to  a  difference  of  view  in  regard 
to  the  General  Synod  and  her  institutions.  In  1842 
ten  pastors,  led  by  Dr.  W.  M.  Reynolds,  a  professor 
at  Gettysburg  College,  left  the  Ministerium  and  formed 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Synod.  This  covered  the  same 
territory  as  the  Ministerium  and  for  many  years  there 
was  much  friction  between  the  two  bodies.  Further 
south  also  the  spirit  of  schism  was  active.  The  Mary¬ 
land  Synod  resented  the  formation  of  the  Melanchthon 
Synod  on  her  territory  in  1857.  And  in  1860  the  Ten¬ 
nessee  Synod  wras  seriously  weakened  by  the  with¬ 
drawal  from  its  ranks  of  pastors  and  congregations 
to  form  the  Holston  Synod. 


182  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


The  General 
Synod  at  Its 
Greatest 
Strength 


But  more  serious  than  any  of  these  divisions  was  the 
disruption  in  the  ranks  of  the  General  Synod  that 
occurred  in  this  period.  In  1860  the  General  Synod 
was  more  of  a  “general”  body  than  at  any  other  time 
in  its  history.  It  embraced  almost  all  of  the  Muhlen¬ 
berg  development  and  a  considerable 
number  of  the  more  recent  Lutheran 
immigrants.  It  numbered  864  out  of 
the  1,313  ministers  and  164,000  out  of 
the  245,000  communicants,  a  total  of 
about  two-thirds  of  the  entire  Lutheran  Church  in  this 
country.  Not  a  few  of  the  Church  leaders  in  that  day 
cherished  the  hope  of  making  the  General  Synod  the 
center  of  a  single  organization  embracing  all  the 
Lutherans  in  America.  But  from  the  very  nature  of 
the  case,  that  hope  was  doomed  to  disappointment. 
During  the  next  six  years  the  General  Synod  suffered 
losses  by  exodus  and  disruption  that  deprived  it  of 
nearly  half  of  its  membership  and  postponed  indefi¬ 
nitely  the  prospect  of  a  really  “general”  organization 
including  all  the  Lutherans  in  America. 

The  first  break  in  the  strength  of  the  General  Synod 
came  in  1860  with  the  exodus  of  the  Swedes  and  Nor¬ 
wegians  from  the  Synod  of  Northern  Illinois.  We 
have  seen  that  in  1851  a  large  number  of  Swedes  and  a 
smaller  number  of  Norwegians,  under  the  leadership  of 

Prof.  L.  P.  Esbjorn,  helped  to  form  the 
Synod  of  Northern  Illinois,  a  district 
synod  of  the  General  Synod,  and  co¬ 
operated  in  the  work  of  the  Illinois  State  University. 
As  that  synod  simply  affirmed  the  Augsburg  Confes- 


Exodus  of 
the  Swedes 


DISRUPTION  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 


183 


sion  to  be  “a  summary  of  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  the  Christian  religion  substantially  correct”  the 
Scandinavians  carefully  guarded  their  rights  on  enter¬ 
ing  the  body.  In  1859  they  constituted  nearly  half  of 
the  whole  synod,  and  they  exerted  a  measurable  influ¬ 
ence  in  favor  of  historic  Lutheranism.  But  they  feared 
that  the  General  Synod  might  not  remain  doctrinally 
sound,  and  because  of  the  barrier  of  language,  they 
could  not  impress  their  views  on  that  body.  They  were 
much  disturbed  over  the  admission  of  the  Melanchthon 
Synod  to  the  General  Synod  in  1859,  and  began  to 
contemplate  a  separate  organization.  The  following 
spring  personal  troubles  arose  between  Esbjorn  and 
the  other  professors  at  Springfield,  with  the  result  that 
he  suddenly  resigned  and  moved  to  Chicago,  taking 
the  Scandinavian  students  with  him.  Shortly  after 
that  all  the  Swedes  and  Norwegians  formally  severed 
their  connections  with  the  Synod  of  Northern  Illinois, 
and  in  June,  1860,  the  Augustana  Synod  was  formed. 
The  Springfield  school  was  purchased  by  the  Mis¬ 
sourians.  One  result  of  this  secession  of  the  Swedes 
was  a  great  weakening  of  the  conservative  element  in 
that  part  of  the  General  Synod. 

The  second  rupture  in  the  ranks  of  the  General 
Synod  was  made  in  1862.  The  Civil  War  was  in 
progress  and  partisan  rancor  was  intense.  Such  was 
the  confusion  and  anxiety  due  to  the  war  that  the  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  general  body  had  been  postponed  for  a  year. 
When  it  met  in  Lancaster  in  May,  1862,  only  one  dele¬ 
gate  was  present  from  south  of  the  Potomac  River.  It 
was  easy  to  foresee  that  some  declaration  would  be 


184  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


made  concerning  the  great  conflict.  It  is  indicative  of 
the  religious  genius  of  the  Lutheran  Church  and  her 


essential  conservatism  that  up  to  this 
time  she  had  not  allowed  the  purely 
economic  and  moral  issue  of  slavery  to 


Division  Due 
to  the  War 


make  a  division  in  her  organization.  The  Methodists, 
Baptists  and  Presbyterians  had  all  divided  on  that  issue 
ten  or  fifteen  years  before  the  War  came.  But  at  the 
time  of  the  Lancaster  meeting  of  the  General  Synod  the 
southern  states  had  seceded  and  actual  war  had  been 
going  on  for  twelve  months.  The  district  synods, 
North  and  South,  had  all  taken  action  supporting  their 
respective  governments.  The  southern  synods,  expect¬ 
ing  that  the  political  separation  between  the  North  and 
South  would  be  permanent,  had  taken  action  looking 
towards  withdrawal  from  the  General  Synod  of  the 
United  States  and  the  forming  of  a  General  Synod  of 
the  Confederate  States.  The  General  Synod  at  Lan¬ 
caster,  therefore,  took  vigorous  action  on  the  whole 
subject.  Naturally  that  action  was  very  pronounced 
against  the  South.  The  resolutions  were  so  framed 
that  the  southern  pastors  and  congregations  inter¬ 
preted  them  to  mean  that  their  return  to  the  General 
Synod  would  not  be  desired  even  after  the  Union  of 
the  States  was  restored. 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  Lutherans  of  the  North 
made  overtures  to  those  of  the  South,  suggesting  their 
return  to  their  former  organic  relationship.  But  the 
southern  churches  determined  to  continue  their  own 
General  Synod,  which  they  had  begun  in  May,  1863. 
They  cited  the  strong  resolutions  of  1862  and  in  addi- 


DISRUPTION  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 


185 


tion  explained  that  they  now  had  their  own  peculiar 

problems  requiring  that  they  should  maintain  their  own 

general  organization  and  institutions 

and  literature.  Moreover,  they  pointed  United  Synod 

of  the  South 

to  the  serious  division  among  the 
northern  synods  that  now  seemed  imminent,  and 
they  preferred  to  have  no  part  in  that  factional  strife. 
They  placed  themselves  on  a  more  positive  confessional 
basis  than  that  of  the  General  Synod  of  the  North 
and  changed  their  name  to  comport  with  the  change 
in  political  relations.  The  organization  was  later  called 
the  “United  Synod  of  the  South.”  This  secession  of 
the  southern  Lutherans  withdrew  from  the  old  Gen¬ 
eral  Synod  five  of  its  district  synods,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Virginia,  Western  Virginia  and  Texas, 
embracing  one  hundred  and  forty-six  ministers,  two 
hundred  and  seventeen  congregations,  and  over  twenty- 
two  thousand  members.  It  further  diminished  the 
strength  of  the  conservative  party  in  the  General 
Synod. 

But  the  most  serious  disruption  came  with  the  with¬ 
drawal  of  the  Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania  and  the 
organization  of  another  general  body  on  the  territory 
of  the  General  Synod.  This  was  a  process  extending 
over  four  years.  It  began  with  the  meeting  of  the 
General  Synod  at  York  in  1864,  and  was  completed 
by  the  formation  of  the  General  Council  at  Fort  Wayne 
in  1867. 

When  the  Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania  affiliated 
with  the  General  Synod  in  1853  it  carefully  guarded 
the  terms  of  its  affiliation.  The  predominance  of  the 


186  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


German  language  and  German  personalities  in  the 
Ministerium,  and  its  strong  trend  toward  conservative 
Lutheran  positions,  made  its  members  suspicious  of 

the  Lutheranism  in  the  more  Ameri- 
Position  of  the  canized  parts  of  the  Church.  The 
Pennsylvania  action  to  unite  with  the  General  Synod 

was  not  taken  without  a  struggle.  It 
was  specified  in  joining  the  general  body  that  the 
Ministerium  retained  all  rights  to  control  its  internal 
affairs  and  that  if  the  General  Synod  should  ever  vio¬ 
late  its  constitution  and  require  assent  to  anything 
conflicting  with  the  “old  and  long-established  faith  of 
the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church, : ”  the  delegates  of 
the  Ministerium  were  required  to  protest  and  with¬ 
draw  from  the  meeting.  At  the  same  convention  the 
Ministerium  pledged  itself  to  all  the  symbolical  books. 
It  is  clear  that  the  old  Ministerium  had  now  reached 
confessional  ground  more  advanced  than  the  rest  of 
the  General  Synod.  Several  incidents  that  occurred 
shortly  after  the  Ministerium  had  joined  the  General 
Synod  were  disquieting  to  the  conservative  leaders  in 
the  Ministerium.  The  “definite  platform”  was  over¬ 
whelmingly  rejected,  it  is  true,  but  the  Melanchthon 
Synod  was  admitted  in  spite  of  the  negative  vote  of 
the  Ministerium’s  delegates.  The  conservative  element 
easily  predominated  in  the  General  Synod,  but  they 
were  making  concessions  to  the  liberal  element  that 
the  Ministerium  regarded  as  unwarranted.  In  those 
days  of  universal  discord,  the  spirit  of  unity  had  left 
the  General  Synod  and  it  needed  only  an  occasion  to 
precipitate  serious  conflict  between  the  two  elements. 


DISRUPTION  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 


187 


The  crisis  came  at  York  in  1864.  The  Franckean 
Synod  applied  for  admission  to  the  General  Synod. 
Now  the  Franckean  Synod  had  never  accepted  the 
Augsburg  Confession.  It  had  its  own  “declaration  of 
faith,”  in  which  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  Luther¬ 
anism  were  not  contained.  Its  application  was  accord¬ 
ingly  rejected  until  it  should  “give 

formal  expression  of  its  adoption  of  yo^  1864  ^ 
the  Augsburg  Confession  as  received 
by  the  General  Synod.”  But  the  next  day,  when  the 
delegates  of  the  Franckean  Synod  explained  that  in 
adopting  the  constitution  of  the  General  Synod  they 
thought  that  they  had  also  adopted  its  confession  of 
faith,  the  question  was  reconsidered.  After  a  long 
and  spirited  discussion  it  was  voted,  ninety-seven  to 
forty,  to  admit  the  Franckean  Synod,  but  with  the 
express  “understanding  that  said  synod,  at  its  next 
meeting,  declare  in  an  official  manner  its  adoption 
of  the  doctrinal  articles  of  the  Augsburg  Con¬ 
fession.”  This  action  the  minority  regarded  as 
unconstitutional  and  dangerous  in  principle,  and 
they  entered  a  formal  protest  against  it.  The  dele¬ 
gation  of  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium  further  pre¬ 
sented  a  paper  recalling  the  reservations  under  which 
their  body  had  united  with  the  General  Synod  in  1858, 
recording  their  conviction  that  the  recent  action  of 
the  General  Synod  was  unconstitutional  and  declaring 
their  purpose  therefore  “to  withdraw  from  the  sessions 
of  the  General  Synod,  in  order  to  report  to  the  Synod 
of  Pennsylvania  at  its  approaching  convention.” 

The  delegation  from  the  Ministerium  withdrew  and 


188  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


the  die  was  cast.  The  delegation  did  not  regard  their 
act  as  the  withdrawal  of  the  Ministerium  itself  from 
the  General  Synod,  and  the  Ministerium  did  not  so 
interpret  it.  But  others  did  so  regard  it,  and  events 
that  transpired  before  the  next  meeting  of  the  General 
Synod  made  the  disruption  practically  complete.  After 


the  withdrawal  of  the  MinisteriunTs 
delegation  from  the  York  convention, 
the  General  Synod  at  the  same  meeting 
adopted  a  resolution  denying  that 


The  General 
Synod  Amends 
Its  Constitution 


there  are  any  errors  in  the  Augsburg  Confession.  It 
also  provided  for  an  amendment  to  its  constitution 
fortifying  its  position  as  a  conservative  Lutheran  body 
and  clearly  defining  in  that  sense  the  confessional 
basis  to  be  adopted  by  synods  desiring  to  unite  with 
the  general  body.  This  was  done  because  the  majority 
in  the  General  Synod  were  anxious  to  conciliate  the 
Ministerium  and  to  guard  against  establishing  a  dan¬ 
gerous  precedent  by  the  admission  of  the  Franckean 
Synod  and  because  they  wanted  to  express  the  confes¬ 
sional  advance  that  had  been  made  since  1829.  This 
amendment  was  submitted  to  the  Ministerium  and  was 
ratified  by  that  body  along  with  a  large  majority  of 
the  other  district  synods.  But  it  was  a  time  of  war 
and  not  of  peace.  The  passions  of  men  were  deeply 
stirred.  Two  things  in  particular  prevented  the  re¬ 
storation  of  peace  in  the  General  Synod,  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  a  new  seminary  and  the  conflict  of  strong 
personalities. 

Early  in  February,  1864,  Dr.  Schmucker  had  re¬ 
signed  as  the  head  of  the  Gettysburg  Seminary.  A 


DISRUPTION  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 


189 


large  number  of  the  conservative  element  wanted 
Charles  Porterfield  Krauth  as  his  successor.  By  his 
many  publications  Dr.  Krauth  had  shown  himself  to 
be  the  most  scholarly  among  the  Lutheran  theologians 
in  America.  By  1864  he  had  become 
thoroughly  conservative  in  his  confes-  A  N.ew 
sional  position.  If  the  training  of  the  Semmary 
future  ministers  of  the  Church  could  have  been  com¬ 
mitted  to  his  hands,  the  Ministerium  might  have  re¬ 
garded  that  as  a  sufficient  guarantee  against  radical 
tendencies.  But  there  were  many  who  wanted  a  new 
seminary.  The  demand  for  German  pastors  was 
greater  than  Gettysburg  could  supply.  The  project  to 
strengthen  the  force  at  Gettysburg  did  not  seem  feas¬ 
ible,  and  long  before  the  events  of  1864  a  number  of 
advocates  were  pleading  for  the  establishment  of  a 
theological  seminary  in  Philadelphia  as  Muhlenberg 
had  planned  and  as  many  had  hoped  for  since  his  day. 
After  the  break  in  York  and  with  no  prospect  of  having 
Dr.  Krauth  as  Dr.  Schmucker’s  successor,  the  Minis¬ 
terium  of  Pennsylvania  proceeded  in  July,  1864,  to 
establish  its  own  seminary  in  Philadelphia.  Dr.  Krauth 
was  called  to  be  its  professor  of  systematic  theology 
and  Dr.  C.  F.  Schaeffer,  the  German  professor  at  the 
Gettysburg  Seminary,  and  Dr.  W.  J.  Mann  became  the 
other  professors.  This  event  convinced  many  that  a 
permanent  breach  in  the  ranks  of  the  General  Synod 
was  now  inevitable. 

A  few  weeks  later  Dr.  J.  A.  Brown  was  elected  head 
of  the  Gettysburg  Seminary.  Dr.  Brown  was  well 
known  for  his  conservative  views,  having  been  a  pro- 


190  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


nounced  antagonist  of  Dr.  Schmucker  in  his  “American 
Lutheranism.”  Dr.  Krauth,  Sr.,  the  second  professor 
at  Gettysburg,  was  also  known  to  be  conservative. 


But  naturally  the  relations  between 
the  two  institutions  became  strained  at 
once.  The  sudden  removal  of  one  of 


Strained 

Relations 


the  professors  from  the  old  seminary  and  the  with¬ 
drawal  of  many  of  the  students  occasioned  much  bitter 
feeling.  The  representatives  of  the  Pennsylvania  Min- 
isterium  who  came  as  usual  to  attend  the  meeting  of 
the  Gettysburg  Board  of  Directors  were  told  that  they 
had  no  place  there.  A  literary  war  was  waged  between 
Dr.  Brown  and  Dr.  Krauth.  Several  of  the  leaders 
in  the  General  Synod  began  to  indulge  in  fierce  con¬ 
demnation  of  the  Ministerium  and  its  seminary.  The 
withdrawal  of  the  MinisteriunTs  delegation  at  York 
began  to  be  generally  interpreted  as  the  secession  of 
the  Ministerium  itself  from  the  General  Synod. 

When,  therefore,  the  General  Synod  met  at  Fort 
Wayne,  Indiana,  on  May  17,  1866,  the  atmosphere  was 
charged  with  forebodings  of  serious  conflict.  The 
Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania  sent  a  delegation,  but 
their  instructions  breathed  the  spirit  of  defiance  rather 
than  charity.  Both  sides  expected  rupture.  The 


purely  German  element  in  the  Minis¬ 
terium  was  determined  to  separate 
from  the  General  Synod.  Indeed  it 


Conflict 

Inevitable 


was  openly  charged  that  the  leaders  in  the  Ministe¬ 
rium,  already  before  that  meeting  of  the  General 
Synod,  had  entered  into  negotiations  looking  towards 
the  forming  of  a  new  general  body.  On  the  other  hand, 


DISRUPTION  AND  RFXONSTRUCTION 


191 


the  left  wing  of  the  General  Synod  were  loudly  pro¬ 
claiming  their  intention  to  exclude  the  Ministerium 
from  the  general  body  at  this  convention  if  it  could  be 
done.  But  each  side  to  the  controversy  wanted  to 
place  on  the  other  the  responsibility  for  schism  in  the 
Church. 

It  happened  that  the  president  of  the  General  Synod 
at  that  time  was  Dr.  Sprecher.  With  others  of  the 
left  wing  he  had  planned  his  method  of  procedure.  At 
the  opening  of  the  convention  at  Fort  Wayne,  he  re¬ 
fused  to  receive  the  credentials  of  the  delegates  from 
the  Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania.  He  declared  that 
the  Ministerium  was  in  a  “state  of 

practical  withdrawal  from  the  govern-  Summary 

Procedure 

mg  functions  of  the  General  Synod,” 
and  that  the  General  Synod  must  first  organize  its  con¬ 
vention  by  electing  officers  before  it  could  receive  the 
report  of  an  act  restoring  practical  relations  of  the 
Ministerium  with  the  General  Synod.  When  attention 
was  called  to  the  reservation  made  by  the  Ministerium 
when  it  joined  the  General  Synod  in  1853,  Dr.  Sprecher 
replied  that  the  reservation  was  not  recorded  in  the 
minutes  of  the  General  Synod  and  therefore  could  not 
be  recognized  by  the  officers  of  that  body.  An  appeal 
was  made  from  this  decision  but  the  synods  already  re¬ 
ceived  sustained  the  chair.  On  this  technicality  and 
against  the  protest  of  delegates  from  other  synods, 
the  Ministerium’s  delegation  was  excluded  from  the 
election  of  officers. 

However,  the  new  president  of  the  General  Synod 
was  Dr.  Brown.  He  was  one  of  those  conservatives 


192  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

who  wished  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  General  Synod 
and  did  not  want  to  exclude  the  Ministerium  sum¬ 
marily  but  only  wanted  to  annul  the  condition  which 
the  Ministerium  had  attached  to  its  admission  in  1853. 

The  case  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod 
was  therefore  thoroughly  discussed 
by  the  General  Synod  in  a  debate  that 
lasted  three  days.  The  chief  point  of 
contention  was  concerning  the  right 
of  a  delegation  to  withdraw  when  an 
act  which  seemed  to  them  unconstitutional  was  passed. 
At  length  it  was  decided  to  request  the  delegates  from 
the  Ministerium  to  “waive  what  might  seem  to  them 
an  irregular  organization  of  this  body  and  acquiesce 
in  the  present  organization.”  This  they  agreed  to  do, 
provided  the  General  Synod  would  acknowledge  their 
constitutional  right  to  be  represented  before  the  elec¬ 
tion  of  officers  and  to  take  part  in  it.  Such  acknowl¬ 
edgment  the  majority  of  the  General  Synod  refused 
to  make,  because  it  would  have  perpetuated  the  dis¬ 
turbing  reservation  of  1853.  Thereupon  the  delegation 
of  the  Ministerium  withdrew  for  the  last  time.  The 
break  was  complete,  another  strong  support  of  con¬ 
servatism  was  withdrawn  from  the  General  Synod, 
and  for  fifty-two  years  the  Ministerium  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  had  no  organic  relation  with  the  other  synods 
in  the  General  Synod. 

But  the  principle  of  a  general  organization  for  Luth¬ 
erans  had  strongly  commended  itself  in  the  forty-six 
years  of  experience  of  the  General  Synod.  Accordingly, 
after  the  break  at  Fort  Wayne  the  hope  was  widely 


Final 

Withdrawal 
of  the 

Pennsylvania 

Ministerium 


CHARLES  PORTERFIELD  KRAUTH,  D.D.,  LL.D 


DISRUPTION  AND  RECONSTRUCTION  193 

entertained  of  building  a  new  general  body  that  would 
be  more  thoroughly  Lutheran  in  its  spirit  and  more 
general  in  its  extent  than  the  old  Gen¬ 
eral  Synod.  The  separation  of  the  Orgarization™ 
Pennsylvania  Ministerium  had  been 
greeted  with  satisfaction  in  many  quarters.  The 
Ministerium,  therefore,  when  it  approved  the  course 
of  its  delegates  at  Fort  Wayne  and  formally  severed 
its  connection  with  the  General  Synod,  issued  a  call  to 
all  Lutheran  Synods  acknowledging  the  Unaltered 
Augsburg  Confession,  inviting  them  to  participate  in 
the  organization  of  a  new  general  body  “on  a  truly 
Lutheran  basis.”  In  response  to  this  call  a  convention 
was  held  at  Reading,  Pennsylvania,  in  December,  1866. 
Thirteen  synods  were  represented.  The  principal 
business  of  the  convention  was  the  discussion  and 
adoption  of  a  set  of  theses  that  Dr.  Krauth  had  pre¬ 
pared  on  “The  fundamental  principles  of  faith  and 
church  polity.”  These  theses  were  unanimously  adopted 
as  the  basis  of  the  proposed  organization.  They  placed 
the  new  body  squarely  on  the  doctrinal  basis  of  the  Un¬ 
altered  Augsburg  Confession  and  the  other  symbolical 
books  because  they  are  “in  perfect  harmony  of  one  and 
the  same  scriptural  faith.”  As  to  ecclesiastical  polity  it 
was  made  clear  that  the  new  organization  would  allow 
the  individual  synods  a  wide  range  of  freedom  in 
regulating  their  own  affairs. 

The  required  number  of  synods  having  adopted  the 
“fundamental  principles,”  the  first  regular  convention 
of  the  “General  Council  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church  of  North  America”  was  held  at  Fort  Wayne 

13 


194  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


in  November,  1867.  Eleven  synods  participated  in  the 


organization :  The  Ministerium  of 

Pennsylvania,  the  New  York  Ministe¬ 
rium,  the  English  Synod  of  Ohio,  the 
Pittsburgh  Synod,  the  Wisconsin 


The  General 

Council 

Organized 


Synod,  the  English  District  Synod  of  Ohio,  the  Michi¬ 
gan  Synod,  the  Augustana  Synod,  the  Minnesota 
Synod,  the  Canada  Synod,  and  the  Illinois  Synod.  The 
Joint  Synod  of  Ohio  and  the  Iowa  Synod  sent  delegates 
but  did  not  unite  with  the  Council  because  they  could 
not  be  satisfied  of  its  thoroughgoing  Lutheranism.  The 
Missouri  Synod  had  been  represented  at  the  prelimi¬ 
nary  meeting  in  Reading,  but  did  not  favor  the  organi¬ 
zation  of  a  new  general  body  and  declined  to  unite 
with  it.  But  from  the  beginning  the  General  Council 
was  four-fifths  the  size  of  the  depleted  General  Synod, 
and  after  a  few  years  the  younger  body  was  the 
larger. 

The  General  Council  at  once  took  up  the  work  of 
reorganizing  the  churches  on  the  confessional  basis  it 
had  adopted.  A  liturgy  and  Church  Book  were  pre¬ 
pared.  A  model  constitution  for  congregations  was 
devised  and  debated  and  finally  adopted.  In  all  these 
lines  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium  took  the  lead.  In 


the  benevolent  operations  of  the 
Church  few  powers  had  been  com¬ 
mitted  to  the  general  body,  and  this 


Its  General 
Spirit 


work  continued  to  be  carried  on  by  the  individual 
synods.  From  the  general  character  of  the  Council 
and  the  purpose  of  its  organization  it  followed  that 
its  sessions  were  very  largely  occupied  by  discussions 


DISRUPTION  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 


195 


of  principles  and  by  debates  on  points  of  difference 
with  other  Lutheran  bodies.  For  many  years  these 
debates  absorbed  the  regular  conventions  of  the  body 
and  engaged  the  literary  activity  of  its  teachers.  It 
was  somewhat  disappointing  that  no  agreement  could 
be  reached  with  the  strictly  orthodox  Lutherans  far¬ 
ther  west  so  that  the  ‘‘general”  character  of  the  body 
might  be  more  nearly  realized.  Moreover,  the  General 
Council  had  to  reckon  constantly  with  internal  diver¬ 
sities  of  language,  nationality  and  training.  But  in 
the  rapid  enlargement  of  the  Church  that  soon  took 
place  the  General  Council  fulfilled  the  primary  purpose 
of  its  organization  in  maintaining  purity  of  doctrine 
and  developing  sound  cultus  and  practice. 

Through  the  formation  of  the  General  Council  a 
number  of  district  synods  also  suffered  disruption. 
We  have  noted  that  a  number  of  delegates  from  other 
synods  cordially  sympathized  with  the  delegates  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium  in  the  events  at  York 
and  Fort  Wayne.  When  the  Ministerium  issued  its 
call  for  the  formation  of  a  new  gen¬ 
eral  body  these  men  tried  to  move  their  Disruption 
respective  synods  to  separate  from  the 
General  Synod  and  take  part  in  the  new  organization. 
Thus  there  developed  a  new  phase  of  internal  discord. 
When  the  New  York  Ministerium  decided  to  unite  with 
the  General  Council  seventeen  ministers  withdrew 
from  the  Ministerium  to  form  the  New  York 
Synod,  and  as  such  joined  the  General  Synod. 
For  the  same  reason  a  minority  in  the  Illinois  Synod 
formed  themselves  into  the  Central  Illinois  Synod  and 


196  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


remained  in  the  General  Synod.  In  the  Pittsburgh 
Synod  the  minority,  refusing  to  abide  by  the  decision 
of  the  majority  to  join  the  General  Council,  claimed 
the  name  of  the  original  synod,  and  were  recognized 
by  the  General  Synod  as  the  Pittsburgh  Synod.  This 
disruption  of  synods  caused  great  distraction  and  last¬ 
ing  bitterness.  Congregations  changed  their  synodical 
affiliations.  Pastors  were  parted  from  their  congrega¬ 
tions  by  their  allegiance  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  gen¬ 
eral  bodies.  Congregations  were  often  divided.  Expen¬ 
sive  and  humiliating  lawsuits  were  begun  for  possession 
of  the  properties.  Scholarly  theologians  sat  for  days 
in  the  witness  stand  of  secular  courts.  When  the  issues 
depended  on  the  question  of  essential  Lutheranism  the 
General  Synod  invariably  won.  But  wounds  were  in- 
flicted  that  two  generations  of  time  have  scarcely  been 
able  to  heal. 

As  the  result  of  this  series  of  disruptions  the  General 
Synod  of  1870  was  but  a  remnant  of  the  large  and 
hopeful  body  of  1860.  Its  numbers  were  seriously 
diminished.  Its  institutions  were  weakened.  Its 
“general”  character  was  impugned.  And  its  most 


conservative  elements  were  gone.  The 
left  wing  had  been  sobered  by  the 
events  of  the  decade  and  the  conserva- 


Effect  on  the 
General  Synod 


tive  party  was  still  in  the  ascendancy.  But  the  with¬ 
drawal  of  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium  and  other  con¬ 
servative  bodies  deprived  the  General  Synod  of  invalu¬ 
able  conservative  scholarship  and  made  the  further  ad¬ 
vance  of  that  body  in  doctrine  and  cultus  a  slow  and 
painful  process.  The  disruption  was  inevitable  under 


DISRUPTION  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 


197 


the  circumstances,  but  for  the  time  at  least  it  impaired 
the  progress  of  conservatism  in  the  Church  as  a  whole. 

If  we  now  inquire  for  the  real  cause  of  the  disrup¬ 
tion  that  lay  behind  the  events  enumerated,  we  find 
them  several.  In  the  first  place  there  was  a  real  dif¬ 
ference  in  spirit  between  the  majority  of  the  General 
Synod  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Pennsylvania  Ministe- 
rium  and  its  friends  on  the  other.  This  difference  was 
partly  doctrinal.  The  Ministerium  had 

made  great  speed  in  its  confessional  The  Difference 

in  Doctnne 

advance  and  now  accepted  all  the  sym¬ 
bolical  books.  None  of  the  other  synods  in  the  General 
Synod  did  this.  The  predominating  influences  in  the 
Ministerium  were  German,  and  they  harbored  a  strong 
aversion  to  the  remnant  of  revivalism  and  puritanism 
that  still  lingered  in  some  parts  of  the  General  Synod. 
The  Ministerium  was  in  more  direct  touch  with  the 
Lutheran  reaction  in  Germany  and  its  inspiring  litera¬ 
ture,  made  more  constant  use  of  Luther’s  Catechism  and 
German  hymns,  and  received  a  larger  part  of  the  im¬ 
migrant  German  pastors.  All  this  deepened  the  Luth¬ 
eran  convictions  of  the  Ministerium  beyond  those  of 
the  other  synods.  The  correspondence  of  the  leaders 
of  that  period  and  the  columns  of  the  Church  papers 
make  it  clear  that  doctrinal  differences  were  a  potent 
factor  in  causing  the  irritation  that  produced  dis¬ 
ruption. 

Another  element  explaining  the  difference  in  spirit 
between  the  two  parties  is  found  in  their  dissenting 
views  of  Church  government.  The  Pennsylvania  Min¬ 
isterium,  so  much  older  and  larger  than  the  other 


198  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


synods,  was  always  jealous  of  its  rights  and  unwilling 
to  lose  its  life  or  merge  its  activity  in  that  of  any 


general  organization.  The  Ministe- 
rium  claimed  that  the  general  organi¬ 
zation  was  only  a  conference  and  had 


The  Difference 
in  Polity 


only  advisory  powers,  that  the  definition  of  doctrine, 
the  founding  of  seminaries,  the  preparation  of  liturgies 
and  hymn-books,  and  the  benevolent  work  of  the 
Church,  is  the  business  of  the  district  synods  and  not 
the  General  Synod.  The  majority  in  the  General 
Synod,  on  the  other  hand,  stood  for  centralization  of 
power.  They  wanted  a  general  church  authority 
whose  decisions  would  regulate  the  doctrinal  and  prac¬ 
tical  affairs  of  the  synods.  These  two  conceptions  of 
church  polity  may  be  traced  through  all  the  events  of 
disruption  and  reconstruction.  As  the  events  of  the 
Civil  War  increased  the  centralization  of  power  in  the 
hands  of  the  Federal  government,  so  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium  strengthened  the  cen¬ 
tralizing  theory  of  government  in  the  General  Synod, 
and  some  of  the  most  important  practical  decisions  in 
the  history  of  the  General  Synod  were  made  in  1869. 

This  difference  of  spirit,  growing  out  of  a  divergence 
of  confessional  position  and  varied  conceptions  of 
church  government,  was  further  aggravated  by  per¬ 
sonal  differences.  Certainly  personal  differences  were 


a  potent  factor  in  the  establishment  of 
the  new  seminary  in  1864,  and  the 
founding  of  the  new  school  in  turn 


Personal 

Differences 


greatly  increased  the  conflict  of  personalities.  Per¬ 
sonalities  also  were  the  main  factor  in  producing  the 


DISRUPTION  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 


199 


tragic  event  at  Fort  Wayne  in  1866.  But  party  spirit 
was  everywhere  at  its  zenith.  Religious  verities  were 
sometimes  overshadowed  by  political  expedients.  The 
prevailing  tone  in  all  spheres  was  combat  and  strife. 
General  unity  was  lacking  in  the  Lutheran  Church  of 
Muhlenberg  development,  and  at  such  a  time  in  the 
history  of  the  nation  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that 
organic  union  of  the  Church  would  be  preserved. 

It  was  better,  no  doubt,  that  each  party  should  go 
its  own  way  until  in  the  providence  of  God  the  spirit 
of  the  times  should  have  completely  changed  and  the 
development  of  doctrine  and  cultus  on  the  one  hand 
and  the  progress  of  church  polity  and  benevolent 
operations  on  the  other  hand  should  have  brought  the 
scattered  members  of  the  household  together  in  true 
unity  and  organic  union. 


PART  V 

IN  THE  DAYS  OF  BIG  BUSINESS 

(1870-1910) 


Expansion  and  Enterprise 


/ 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


Economic 

Growth 


The  next  period  of  forty  years  in  the  history  of 
the  nation  was  characterized  by  the  spirit  of  enter¬ 
prise.  Beginning  with  the  year  1870  the  United 
States  entered  upon  a  career  of  phe¬ 
nomenal  economic  growth.  This  new 
economy  brought  changes  that  affected 
every  department  of  human  interest.  It  profoundly 
modified  the  general  trend  both  of  politics  and  of 
religion. 

The  population  of  the  country  increased  during  these 
forty  years  from  forty  millions  to  ninety-three  mil¬ 
lions.  Nearly  one-half  of  this  increase  was  due  to  im¬ 
migration.  In  constantly  swelling  numbers  Europeans 
were  again  invading  American  shores.  From  400,000 
in  1870  the  annual  number  of  immigrants  grew  until 
during  the  last  five  years  of  this  period  it  passed  the 
million  mark.  Until  the  middle  of  the  period  the  im¬ 
migrants  came  most  largely  from  cen¬ 
tral  and  northern  Europe  and  gave 
themselves  chiefly  to  agriculture  in  the  Middle  West 
and  the  Northwest.  This  greatly  increased  the  re¬ 
sources  and  responsibilities  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
But  after  1890  the  tide  began  to  flow  in  increasing 
proportions  from  southern  and  eastern  Europe.  This 
new  type  of  immigrant,  with  his  illiteracy  and  low 
standards  of  living,  helped  to  increase  the  crowded 
conditions  of  the  cities  and  raised  a  whole  host  of 

203 


Immigration 


204  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


political  and  religious  problems  for  solution.  The  city 
population  of  the  nation  grew  from  twenty  per  cent 
of  the  total  in  1870  to  forty-six  per  cent  in  1910,  and 
the  farmers  now  numbered  less  than  one-third  of  the 
total  population. 

But  while  the  population  of  the  country  was  being 
multiplied  by  two  and  a  half,  the  wealth  of  the  nation 
was  being  multiplied  by  ten.  This  led  to  wholesale 
extension  and  consolidation  of  business.  A  striking 
illustration  is  found  in  the  business  of  building  and 
operating  railroads.  The  opening  up  of  the  North¬ 


western  States  and  territories  and  the 
rapid  development  of  the  natural  re¬ 
sources  of  the  whole  country  called  for 


Growth  of 
Business 


new  lines  and  better  facilities,  so  that  in  1910  the  total 
mileage  reached  the  enormous  figure  of  a  quarter  of 
a  million.  Railroads  embraced  one-seventh  of  the  total 
wealth  of  the  nation.  More  significant  than  the  growth 
of  the  railroads  was  the  consolidation  of  management. 
In  1904  all  the  important  lines  were  owned  by  seven 
or  eight  groups  of  capitalists.  This  destroyed  compe¬ 
tition  and  permitted  discrimination  in  rates.  Through¬ 
out  the  period  efforts  were  made  to  regulate  such 
abuses.  But  the  business  was  too  big  for  individual 
states  to  control.  So  in  1887  the  national  Congress 
legislated  on  the  whole  matter  and  created  the  Inter- 
State  Commerce  Commission  to  investigate  complaints 
and  punish  violations.  Opinions  differ  as  to  the  success 
of  this  Commission  in  overcoming  monopolies  and  pre¬ 
venting  “conspiracies  in  restraint  of  trade.”  But  the 
point  of  importance  here  is  that  the  federal  govern- 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


205 


ment  was  forced  to  recognize  the  new  situation  created 
by  “big  business”  and  to  assume  new  powers  in  the 
interest  of  the  common  good. 

The  consolidation  of  capital  and  management  that 
began  in  the  field  of  transportation  soon  spread  to 
other  lines  of  production  and  commerce.  Small  indi¬ 
vidual  enterprises  gave  way  to  large  combinations. 
Small  stores  merged  into  department  stores. 
Small  firms  grew  into  corporations. 

Corporations  invented  “trusts”  of  such  Combination 

of  Capital 

size  that  competitors  were  quickly 
driven  out  of  business  and  irresponsible  monopolies 
were  created.  Trusts  began  with  the  Standard  Oil 
Company,  but  they  soon  covered  such  important  com¬ 
modities  as  meat,  steel,  and  so  forth.  For  many  years 
the  efforts  to  control  the  trusts  occupied  the  public 
interest  and  influenced  national  politics. 

Another  aspect  of  “big  business”  is  found  in  the 
public  service  corporations.  The  great  increase  in  the 
number  of  cities,  together  with  the  multiplying  of 
inventions  to  minister  to  the  comforts  of  life,  led  to 
combinations  of  capital  to  serve  some  single  need  of 
a  whole  city,  such  as  water,  electricity,  gas,  telephone, 
or  street  cars.  These  corporations 
furnished  almost  unlimited  opportu-  s^rvice 

nities  for  political  corruption,  and  the 
period  abounds  in  instances  of  inefficient  and  dishonest 
city  government.  Public  graft  became  an  organized 
business.  Occasional  outbursts  of  public  indignation, 
reflected  in  Church  as  well  as  State  affairs,  proved  in¬ 
effectual  to  uproot  the  evil  until  those  outbursts  grew 


206  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


into  a  mighty  tide  of  reform  about  the  opening  of  the 
new  century. 

One  effect  of  these  developments  in  the  sphere  of 
business  was  a  decided  wave  of  social  unrest.  Social¬ 
ism  grew  until  in  the  elections  of  1910  it  polled  nearly 
a  million  votes.  Despite  the  vast  increase  in  national 
wealth,  great  multitudes  of  the  people  were  worse  off 
than  their  fathers  had  been,  and  one-fifth  of  the  nation 


was  in  a  constant  state  of  poverty. 
This  was  due  to  the  centralization  of 
wealth  in  the  hands  of  the  business 


Combination 
of  Labor 


specialist  who  was  called  the  capitalist.  Opportunities 
to  rise  out  of  poverty  were  greatly  diminished.  The 
typical  laborer  was  the  factory  hand  with  practically 
no  chance  to  become  a  capitalist.  The  relations  be¬ 
tween  employer  and  employee  became  wholly  commer¬ 
cial.  There  were  no  more  free  lands  to  be  had  from 
the  public  domain.  Trusts  reduced  the  chances  of  the 
laborer  to  compete  in  the  labor  market.  Women  in¬ 
vaded  the  labor  market  and  helped  to  reduce  wages. 
In  his  desperation  the  laboring  man  took  a  leaf  from 
the  business  man’s  book  and  began  to  organize  and 
combine.  Already  in  1870  forty  trades  had  national 
organizations.  The  spirit  of  enterprise  that  moved  the 
captain  of  industry  was  caught  by  the  artisan  and 
craftsman,  and  the  trust  found  its  counterpart  among 
the  laborers  in  the  national  “union.”  The  trades  unions 
soon  organized  into  the  strong  American  Federation 
of  Labor,  counting  millions  of  members.  With  capital 
and  labor  thoroughly  organized,  war  between  the  two 
was  inevitable.  The  weapon  of  violence  most  fre- 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


207 


quently  used  was  the  “strike.”  This  weapon  was  used 
with  increasing  frequency  and  increasing  success,  but 
its  disastrous  effects  upon  the  public  led  to  a  variety 
of  efforts  to  control  it  and  to  adjust  the  differences 
between  employer  and  employee.  But  the  subject  had 
too  wide  a  scope  to  be  successfully  handled  by  the  state 
governments,  and  very  soon  the  national  government 
began  to  devise  many  kinds  of  political  machinery  cal¬ 
culated  to  lessen  strikes  and  end  the  labor  war. 

It  will  have  been  observed  that  every  aspect  of  big 

business  that  we  have  sketched  leads  into  the  sphere 

of  politics  and  finally  engages  the  attention  of  the 

national  government.  The  result  was  that  a  new  spirit 

characterized  the  politics  of  this  period.  It  was  widely 

removed  from  the  sectionalism  of  the  preceding  period. 

The  spirit  of  enterprise  that  produced 

the  business  age  and  invaded  every  ^  New  Spmt 

in  Politics 

sphere  of  human  activity  was  not  lim¬ 
ited  to  any  section  of  the  country.  The  South,  no 
longer  distracted  by  political  reconstruction,  began  to 
feel  the  new  impulse  during  the  seventies  and  to  reap 
its  share  of  the  industrial  development.  Mines  and 
forests  were  turned  to  economic  advantage,  manufac¬ 
tures  began  on  a  large  scale,  and  the  old  agricultural 
South  was  slowly  transformed  into  a  new  South  of 
diversified  industries.  The  new  spirit,  therefore,  that 
animated  political  life  during  this  period  ignored  geo¬ 
graphic  bounds  and  covered  the  whole  nation. 

The  dominant  spirit  in  the  politics  of  this  period 
may  be  called  the  New  Nationalism.  This  must  not  be 
confused  with  the  spirit  of  nationality  that  dominated 


208  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


the  youth  of  the  republic.  It  did  not  mean  the  strength¬ 
ening  of  the  federal  government  at  the  expense  of  the 
state  governments.  It  meant  the  re-adjustment  of  all 


the  functions  of  government,  legisla¬ 
tive,  executive,  and  judicial,  so  as  to 
meet  the  new  problems  that  had 


The  New 
Nationalism 


arisen.  The  radical  social  changes  that  grew  out  of  the 
nation’s  marvelous  economic  growth  created  a  new 
national  consciousness  that  called  for  the  exercise  of 
new  powers  of  government.  The  unmistakable  tend¬ 
ency  towards  specialized  organization  in  American 
practical  affairs  produced  a  situation  in  society  at 
large  that  could  no  longer  be  met  by  traditional  the¬ 
ories  of  American  government.  The  business  age  had 
produced  the  business  specialist  or  millionaire,  and 
the  labor  specialist  or  union,  and  the  political  specialist 
or  boss.  The  continued  progress  of  the  nation,  there¬ 
fore,  demanded  the  government  specialist  or  reformer. 
From  both  of  the  great  parties  he  came  in  generous 
numbers.  He  overturned  many  outworn  political  tra¬ 
ditions  and  the  result  of  his  prophesying  is  known  as 
the  “new  nationalism”  because  it  answered  to  the  new 
national  consciousness,  the  new  demand  for  social  and 
industrial  freedom,  that  had  evolved  since  1870. 

The  new  political  spirit  did  not  have  its  home  in 
any  particular  state  or  group  of  states.  The  earlier 
homogeneity  of  American  society  had  been  seriously 
impaired,  and  the  mass  of  the  people  had  fallen  into 
definite  social  groups.  The  vertical  lines  of  cleavage 
that  divided  the  political  mass  into  states  had  come 
to  be  far  less  important  than  the  horizontal  lines  of 


SOUTHERN  SEMINARY.  COLUMBIA,  SOUTH 

CAROLINA 


CONCORDIA  SEMINARY,  ST.  LOUIS,  MISSOURI 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


209 


cleavage  that  divided  the  people  into  classes.  The  main 
political  issues  no  longer  concerned  the  respective 
powers  and  rights  of  states  and  fed¬ 
eral  government.  These  were  clearly  Changed 
defined  and  the  definitions  were  Problems 
agreed  to  by  all  parts  and  parties  of  the  nation.  The 
chief  political  question  was  how  to  meet  the  social 
and  industrial  problems.  Whether  this  was  to  be  done 
through  the  exercise  of  state  or  federal  power  seemed 
to  be  a  matter  of  little  concern.  But  it  was  insisted 
that  in  every  part  of  the  complicated  social  fabric  there 
must  be  either  state  or  national  control,  so  that  no 
neutral  sphere  might  be  left  open  to  predatory  special 
interests. 

About  the  middle  of  this  period  a  tide  of  moral 
earnestness  began  to  swell  in  American  political  life. 
A  group  of  aggressive  young  reformers  began  to  ap¬ 
pear  in  public  life.  A  new  meaning  was  infused  into 
politics.  A  vigorous  crusade  began  against  vested 
wrong  and  problems  of  national  dimensions  were 
boldly  attacked.  But  this  progressive  movement  in 
politics  had  to  forge  new  weapons  for 
the  strife  with  special  privilege.  New  3?16  Progresslve 
political  machinery  was  invented  to 
prevent  the  secret  rule  of  monopoly,  to  allow  less  power 
to  the  political  middleman  and  to  produce  more  direct 
democracy.  Some  of  the  new  devices  were  ballot 
reform,  direct  primary  nominations,  provisions  against 
corruption  in  elections,  the  recall  of  officials,  direct 
legislation  by  initiative  and  referendum,  commission 
government  of  cities,  and  the  direct  election  of  United 
14 


210  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

States  Senators.  As  the  same  time  a  formidable  body 
of  national  laws,  bureaus  and  commissions  were  de¬ 
vised  to  deal  with  questions  that  transcended  the 
bounds  of  states.  Moreover,  a  number  of  movements 
not  related  to  legislative  bodies  gave  substantial  aid 
in  checking  social  diseases  and  sweetening  common 
life.  In  these  ways  did  the  progressive  movement  in 
politics  express  itself.  Its  total  effect  was  to  curb  the 
tyranny  of  special  privilege  and  at  the  same  time  to 
take  the  sting  out  of  organized  socialism. 

As  a  matter  of  practice,  the  new  national  spirit 
tended  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  federal  govern¬ 
ment.  The  business  operations  of  the  country  had 
become  nationalized  and  could  be  controlled  only  by 
the  exercise  of  new  national  powers.  The  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  was  created  and  from  time  to 

time  invested  with  powers  touching  a 
great  variety  of  public  interests.  The 
national  laws  against  trusts  were 
given  effective  character  and  strength¬ 
ened  the  powers  of  the  national  government.  The 
national  Congress  entered  new  fields  also  by  giving 
aid  to  states  in  their  warfare  against  noxious  practices 
of  various  kinds.  The  provision  of  an  elastic  currency 
by  means  of  federal  reserve  banks  under  federal  con¬ 
trol  increased  the  national  authority.  Of  special  sig¬ 
nificance  was  the  doctrine  of  the  conservation  of 
national  resources,  the  movement  in  the  direction  of 
federal  ownership  and  control  of  forest  lands,  mineral 
lands,  swamp  lands,  water  ways,  water-power  sites, 
and  so  forth.  These  and  many  other  measures  indi- 


Federal 

Government 

Strengthened 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


211 


cate  that  the  new  nationalism  not  only  strengthens  the 
bonds  of  union  among  the  states  but  also  multiplies 
the  powers  of  the  central  government  and  increases 
the  force  of  the  nation  as  such.  But  it  must  be  empha¬ 
sized  that  this  tendency  does  not  for  a  moment  dimin¬ 
ish  the  functions  and  joys  of  the  individual  states 
that  compose  the  union.  This  is  the  chief  point  of 
distinction  between  the  spirit  of  new  nationalism  that 
characterizes  this  period  and  the  spirit  of  American 
nationality  that  characterized  the  first  forty  years  in 
the  life  of  the  Republic. 

The  churches  also  gathered  new  impulses  from  the 
age  of  big  business.  The  communicant  membership  of 
the  churches  multiplied  more  than  twice  as  rapidly 
during  the  period  as  the  general  population  of  the 
nation.  It  grew  from  six  and  one-half  millions,  or 
eighteen  per  cent  of  the  population  in  1870,  to  thirty- 
five  millions  or  forty-three  per  cent 
of  the  population  in  1910.  This  great  New  Problems 
increase  in  relative  strength  of  Ameri¬ 
can  Christianity  gave  the  churches  a 
sense  of  increased  responsibility.  At  the  same  time 
the  growing  complexity  of  American  society  forced 
them  to  deal  with  special  problems.  The  immense 
stream  of  immigration  that  poured  into  this  country 
during  these  forty  years  and  the  changing  character 
of  that  immigration  raised  a  score  of  problems  affect¬ 
ing  the  churches.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  received 
the  largest  number  of  the  newcomers,  but  the  Lutheran 
Church  was  a  close  second.  And  all  the  churches  were 
obliged  to  deal  with  the  problems  arising  out  of  the 


for  the 
Churches 


212  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


congested  foreign  quarters  in  the  cities,  the  discour¬ 
aging  condition  of  “down-town”  churches,  the  aban¬ 
doned  country  churches,  the  multiplication  of  lan¬ 
guages,  and  the  sudden  migrations  from  older  to  newer 
states.  To  solve  these  extraordinary  problems  a  double 
spirit  of  enterprise  was  needed  in  American  Christi¬ 
anity.  It  was  not  lacking,  because  the  same  spirit 
of  large  undertaking  that  characterized  men  in  the 
affairs  of  business  and  society  in  general,  moved  them 
also  in  their  religious  activities.  The  churches  grew 
and  prospered  as  they  grew. 

The  multiplying  wealth  of  the  nation  was  reflected 
in  the  department  of  Church  finance.  All  over  the 
country  old  and  outgrown  church  buildings  were  re¬ 
placed  with  large  and  expensive  structures.  In  every 
new  community,  suburban  or  rural,  the  church  build¬ 
ings  were  among  the  first  to  appear.  The  refined 

tastes  of  cities  and  towns  were  mani- 

^Enterprise  fested  in  the  erection  of  costly  cathe¬ 
drals  and  large  churches  of  modern 
character.  Expensive  church  adornments  and  elabo¬ 
rate  furnishings  became  the  order  of  the  day.  Exact 
business  methods  were  applied.  Budgets  were  devised 
and  the  lists  of  items  were  often  quite  formidable. 
Local  activities  were  multiplied  and  in  general  the  calls 
of  benevolence  were  met  with  liberality.  With  the 
increasing  resources  of  church  members  a  new  spirit 
of  stewardship  and  enterprise  was  awakened. 

The  new  machinery  that  was  invented  in  the  sphere 
of  politics  had  its  religious  counterpart  in  the  more 
intensive  organization  of  the  churches.  The  American 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


213 


Churches  conceived  the  absorbing  purpose  of  saving 
the  world  and  transforming  society.  And  the  fulfill¬ 
ing  of  that  purpose  they  reduced  to  a  regular  business. 
To  that  end  they  invented  agencies  and  administrators 
of  the  widest  variety.  It  was  an  age 
of  specialists  and  the  religious  special-  Ditens|ve . 

,,  .  .  Organization 

ist  came  on  the  scene  m  many  guises. 

Systematic  and  business-like  organization  was  one  of 
the  outstanding  characteristics  of  the  Church.  In  its 
completeness  and  enterprise  it  resembled  in  many 
ways  the  great  commercial  projects  of  the  period,  and 
in  some  cases  the  volume  of  its  transactions  rivaled 
that  of  the  trusts.  The  Gospel  enterprise  created  com¬ 
mittees,  societies,  leagues,  unions,  and  other  organiza¬ 
tions  innumerable,  covering  both  sexes  and  every  stage 
of  human  life,  for  study,  for  prayer,  for  praise,  for 
service,  applying  to  every  sort  of  human  need  and 
aimed  at  every  habitation  of  man.  No  exigency  was 
overlooked.  The  churches  were  filled  with  a  veritable 
enthusiasm  of  organization  for  big  business. 

The  new  problems  that  faced  American  Christianity 
and  the  new  activities  that  engaged  the  churches  in 
these  days  of  big  business  helped  to  bring  it  about 
that  in  their  attitude  towards  one  another  the  churches 
were  characterized  by  a  very  different  spirit  from 
that  which  prevailed  in  the  period  of  internal  discord. 
During  the  middle  period  American 

Christians  were  busy  cultivating  Denominational 

...  .  , .  ...  Toleration 

schisms  and  promoting  strife  among 

themselves.  It  was  a  time  of  intolerant  sectarianism. 

But  they  were  also  more  or  less  diligently  studying 


214  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Church  History.  The  history  they  studied  was  chiefly 
such  as  would  at  once  deepen  the  interest  of  the  in¬ 
dividual  denomination  in  its  own  inherited  modes  of 
thought  and  work.  But  continued  far  enough  this 
study  would  also  tend  to  weaken  sectarian  prejudices. 
The  different  churches  continued  to  summon  their 
members  to  a  better  knowledge  of  their  own  past  and 
thus  to  stronger  denominational  attachments.  But  in 
addition  they  now  began  to  summon  their  members 
to  a  cessation  of  denominational  rivalry  and  strife. 
Each  communion  had  become  more  conscious  of  its 
own  historic  life  but  now  also  more  conscious  of  a 
mightier  life  common  to  them  all  and  historic  in  a  far 
grander  sense  than  any  of  them.  The  continued  study 
of  Church  History  led  men  to  see  that  the  various 
types  of  Christian  life  represented  in  the  various 
Christian  Churches  might  be  different  without  being 
necessarily  in  conflict. 

This  did  not  mean  a  return  to  the  conditions  that 
prevailed  in  the  youth  of  the  Republic.  Confessional 
laxity  and  the  desire  for  uniformity  among  the  denomi¬ 
nations  in  matters  of  belief  or  ritual  or  adminis¬ 
tration  that  prevailed  in  the  early  period  did  not 
reappear,  but  there  was  simply  an  inextinguishable 


longing  for  something  like  intellectual 
toleration,  for  the  laying  aside  of  the 
ill-will  and  jealousies  and  the  consci¬ 
entious  hostility  that  battled  in  the 


The  New 

Denomina 

tionalism 


middle  period.  As  in  political  life  there  had  come  to 
be  a  clear  definition  of  rights  as  between  states  and 
federal  authority  and  a  clear  division  of  labor  between 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


215 


them  so  as  to  cover  the  whole  field  of  governmental 
need,  recognizing  that  the  nation  must  command  the 
supreme  allegiance  of  all  the  states  and  at  the  same 
time  insisting  that  the  rights  of  the  states  be  freely 
asserted  and  frankly  admitted  by  the  national  author¬ 
ity,  so  in  religious  life  the  supreme  allegiance  of  the 
churches  to  Jesus  Christ  did  not  hinder  them  from 
remaining  true  to  their  separate  histories  and  culti¬ 
vating  their  denominational  consciousness,  while  yet 
arranging  among  themselves  such  a  division  of  sphere 
and  labor  as  should  leave  no  territory  unoccupied  to 
become  the  camping  ground  of  such  special  privilege 
as  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil.  Su^h  was  the 
spirit  among  the  denominations:  toleration  for  all 
Christians  together  with  a  deepening  of  denomina¬ 
tional  life  and  interest.  It  runs  quite  parallel  to  the 
new  nationalism  that  quenched  the  fires  of  sectional¬ 
ism,  and  it  may  very  well  be  termed  “the  new  denomi- 
nationalism.” 

As  a  matter  of  practice  this  did  not  mean  a  trend 
in  the  direction  of  Church  union,  but  towards  the  con¬ 
solidation  of  the  denominations,  each  within  itself. 
Many  facts  illustrate  this,  such  as  the  Pan-Presby¬ 
terian  Alliance,  the  Ecumenical  Methodist  Conferences, 
the  World-Baptist  Congress,  and  the  various  efforts 
of  the  smaller  sects  to  return  to  the 
larger  bodies  from  which  they  had  split  Consolidating 
off.  All  these  movements  began  in  this  enominations 

period.  Unionism  among  the  churches  had  passed,  but 
sectarianism  also  was  passing  and  the  dignified  growth 
of  tolerant  denominationalism  became  the  order  of 


216  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


the  day.  At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
Christians  had  fought  against  sectarianism.  But  their 
results  were  not  lasting  because  they  were  mistaken 
in  their  methods.  By  seeking  to  hide  the  manifold  life 
of  Christianity  beneath  the  temporary  cloak  of  evan¬ 
gelicalism  they  had  threatened  to  turn  the  Church 
Universal  into  one  vast  sect.  The  reaction  could  not 
fail  to  come,  and  in  the  middle  period  men  hugged 
sectarianism  in  fond  embrace.  The  end  of  the  century 
heard  another  protest  against  all  forms  of  narrow 
sectarianism.  But  this  time  there  was  little  effort  at 
artificial  fusion  of  the  churches  and  no  tendency  what¬ 
ever  to  surrender  distinctive  tenets,  but  a  calm  and 
frank  recognition  of  a  unity  of  motive  in  the  diversity 
of  method. 

This  meant  for  American  Christianity  in  general  an 
increase  in  what  is  sometimes  called  churchliness.  In 

some  quarters  it  meant  also  an  in¬ 
crease  in  confessionalism,  in  others  an 
increase  in  particular  theories  of 
church  polity.  Everywhere  it  meant  a  decided  increase 
in  the  enterprise  of  evangelization,  both  at  home  and 
abroad. 

In  the  history  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  period, 
therefore,  we  shall  expect  to  find  a  deepening  of  our 

Church  consciousness  and  an  increase 

Significance  for  j0yaity  to  historic  Lutheranism 

Lutherans  ,  .  .  ,  ,  .  , 

m  doctrine  and  worship  and  prac¬ 
tice,  while  at  the  same  time  we  shall  expect  to  find 
a  more  tolerant  attitude  towards  all  Christians  every¬ 
where.  We  shall  expect  to  witness  the  workings  of  a 


General 

Significance 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


217 


new  spirit  of  enterprise  and  large  undertaking  in  the 
proper  business  of  our  Church.  We  shall  expect  to 
learn  of  the  rapid  growth  and  zealous  activity  of  new 
general  bodies  of  Lutherans  in  this  country.  We  shall 
expect  to  see  “American  Lutheranism”  and  internal 
discord  give  place  to  that  “Pan-Lutheranism”  and 
mutual  understanding  that  foreshadows  an  age  of 
larger  units. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

GROWTH  IN  NUMBERS  AND  BENEVOLENCE 


The  confirmed  membership  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
in  the  United  States  increased  in  this  period  from  less 
than  half  a  million  to  nearly  two  and  a  quarter  mil¬ 
lions.  This  was  the  largest  relative  increase  made 
during  this  period  by  any  of  the  large  denominations. 
The  number  of  Lutherans  passed  the  number  of  Pres¬ 


byterians,  and  the  Lutheran  Church 
advanced  from  fourth  to  third  place 
among  the  Protestant  Churches  in  the 


Increased 

Membership 


country.  Only  the  Methodists  and  the  Baptists  sur¬ 
passed  her  numbers.  Much  of  this  increase  was  due 
to  the  strong  tides  of  immigration  that  flowed  into  the 
country  from  Germany  and  the  Scandinavian  lands. 
It  not  only  swelled  the  numbers  of  her  membership 
and  expanded  her  reach  into  the  West  and  Northwest, 
but  it  also  presented  a  great  home  missionary  chal¬ 
lenge  and  infused  the  spirit  of  enterprise  into  every 
line  of  the  Church’s  benevolence. 

The  immigration  of  Germans  had  been  greatly  re¬ 
duced  by  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War.  But  a  few 
years  after  the  close  of  the  war  a  high  wave  began  to 
roll  in  again.  From  1866  until  1873  they  came  at  the 


rate  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  thou¬ 
sand  a  year.  Then  the  American  panic 
of  1873  reduced  the  numbers  by  about 


German 

Immigrants 


two-thirds.  In  1880  another  upward  bound  began  and 
1882  was  the  record  year  with  more  than  a  quarter 


218 


GROWTH  IN  NUMBERS  AND  BENEVOLENCE 


219 


of  a  million  German  immigrants.  After  1885  the 
numbers  steadily  declined,  reaching  the  lowest  point 
in  1898  with  seventeen  thousand  immigrants.  This 
was  due  to  Germany’s  great  growth  as  an  industrial 
nation,  less  severe  military  duty,  the  disappearance  of 
free  land  in  America,  and  the  increasing  competition 
in  the  United  States  with  cheap  labor  from  southern 
and  southeastern  Europe.  After  the  beginning  of  the 
twentieth  century  Germans  came  at  the  rate  of  about 
twenty  thousand  annually  and  directed  their  course 
chiefly  to  the  western  provinces  of  Canada. 

The  German  immigrants  of  the  period,  aggregating 
more  than  three  million  souls,  were  not  uniformly 
devoted  to  the  Church.  Many  of  them  were  people  of 
culture  and  education.  But  they  differed  from  the 
German  immigrants  of  earlier  periods  in  that  they 
were  chiefly  interested  in  gaining  economic  and  com¬ 
mercial  advantages.  Many  of  them 

became  prominent  in  technical  and  Their  Motives 

and.  Location 

professional  branches.  Large  numbers 
of  them  went  to  swell  the  churchless  multitudes  of  the 
land.  These  Germans  went  to  all  parts  of  the  country 
and  greatly  enlarged  the  responsibilities  of  the  Luth¬ 
eran  Church  all  over  the  land.  But  the  largest  num¬ 
bers  of  them  settled  on  the  belt  that  spreads  westward 
between  the  Ohio  River  and  the  Great  Lakes  and 
onward  into  the  neighboring  two  tiers  of  trans-Missis¬ 
sippi  states.  All  the  large  cities  received  tens  of  thou¬ 
sands  of  them  but  the  zone  of  densest  German  settle¬ 
ment  lay  along  the  shores  of  Lakes  Ontario,  Erie  and 
Michigan,  along  the  Ohio  River,  and  down  the  Missis- 


220  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


sippi  from  St.  Paul  to  St.  Louis.  The  Lutheran  bodies 
in  the  Middle  West  were  confronted  with  a  tremendous 
home  missionary  opportunity  and  every  Lutheran 
synod  in  the  land  felt  an  unprecedented  impulse  to 
missionary  activity. 

Another  source  of  numerical  increase  of  the  Church 
at  this  time  was  Scandinavian  immigration.  More 
than  a  million  and  three-quarters  of  Scandinavians 
came  to  America  during  these  forty  years.  They 
made  essential  contributions  to  the  size  and  spirit  of 
the  Lutheran  Church.  One-half  of  them  came  from 


Sweden,  one-third  from  Norway,  and 
one-sixth  from  Denmark.  The  num¬ 
ber  of  these  Northmen  who  came 


Scandinavian 

Immigrants 


during  the  middle  period  of  the  nineteenth  century 
was  never  very  large.  Before  the  Civil  War  they  did 
not  average  two  thousand  a  year.  But  the  glowing 
reports  that  these  pioneers  sent  back  to  the  fatherland, 
the  alluring  terms  of  the  American  homestead  act  of 
1862,  and  the  revival  of  business  after  the  war,  caused 
a  rapid  increase  in  the  number  of  immigrants  from 
these  northern  kingdoms  until  in  1882  it  reached  the 
high-water  mark  of  more  than  one  hundred  thousand. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  century  financial  stagnation 
in  the  United  States  produced  a  great  decline  in  the 
number  of  immigrants.  But  the  revival  of  prosperity 
in  the  first  few  years  of  the  new  century  greatly  swelled 
the  number  again  until  in  1903  seventy-seven  thousand 
arrived.  After  that  date  the  figures  diminished  rap¬ 
idly  for  the  same  reasons  that  German  immigration 
also  declined  at  that  time. 


GROWTH  IN  NUMBERS  AND  BENEVOLENCE 


221 


The  Scandinavian  immigrants  of  this  period  came 

to  America  to  better  their  economic  conditions.  This 

is  indicated  by  the  way  their  numbers  fluctuated  with 

the  changes  in  American  business  conditions.  It  is 

also  indicated  by  the  location  of  their  settlements  in 

the  New  World.  The  stream  of  immigration  from 

Scandinavian  lands  wore  a  definite 

channel  from  eastern  ports  like  New  Their  Motives 

and  Location 

York  and  Boston  to  the  gateways  of 
the  Northwest  such  as  Chicago  and  Milwaukee.  From 
these  points  it  flowed  out  over  the  wilderness  of  the 
upper  Mississippi  Valley.  It  was  the  rich,  unoccupied 
farming  lands  of  that  region  that  attracted  them.  Min¬ 
nesota  became  their  chief  home,  and  before  the  end 
of  the  period  had  a  Scandinavian  population  of  over 
a  million.  Other  states  that  received  large  numbers 
of  the  Northmen  were  Wisconsin,  the  Dakotas,  Illinois, 
Michigan,  and  Iowa.  During  the  later  decades,  with 
an  increase  in  the  proportion  of  skilled  laborers,  espe¬ 
cially  among  the  Swedes,  some  of  the  eastern  cities, 
such  as  New  York  and  Brooklyn  and  the  cities  of  New 
England,  have  retained  a  considerable  proportion.  But 
fully  three-fourths  of  them  were  massed  in  the  fertile 
agricultural  region  of  the  Northwest. 

Nearly  all  of  these  Swedes,  Norwegians  and  Danes 
were  potential  materials  for  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
America.  But  they  came  in  such  huge  numbers  and 
were  so  thoroughly  massed  together  on  the  American 
frontier  that  it  was  not  possible  for  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  America  to  reach  them  and  assimilate  them. 
Then,  too,  they  were  so  engrossed  in  their  business  and 


222  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


industrial  occupations,  and  many  of  them  were  so  glad 

to  be  free  from  the  rigors  of  the  State 

Their  Relation  Churches  in  Europe,  that  they  were 
to  the  Church  .  .  „  .  , 

not  zealous  m  forming  Church  organi¬ 
zations  among  themselves.  It  is  estimated  that 
only  seven  per  cent  of  the  Danes  joined  any  Church, 
not  more  than  twenty  per  cent  of  the  Swedes,  and 
somewhat  less  than  thirty  per  cent  of  the  Norwegians. 
Nevertheless,  the  synods  that  had  been  formed  among 
the  Swedes  and  Norwegians  during  the  preceding 
period  received  very  large  accessions  from  the  new 
tide  of  immigration  in  this  period. 

Ever  since  the  Swedes  and  Norwegians  withdrew 
from  the  Synod  of  Northern  Illinois  in  1860,  the  Scan¬ 
dinavian  Lutherans  in  America  have  developed  their 
work  for  the  most  part  independently  of  the  other 
Lutheran  bodies.  In  1870  the  Scandinavian  Augustana 
Synod,  which  had  been  organized  ten  years  earlier  as 

we  have  seen,  separated  peacefully  into 

The  Augustana  the  Swedish  Augustana  and  the  Nor- 
Synod 

wegian  Augustana  Synods.  The  for¬ 
mer,  now  a  purely  Swedish  body,  began  to  respond 
energetically  to  the  great  home  missionary  challenge 
arising  out  of  the  presence  of  such  a  large  number 
of  their  countrymen.  The  spirit  of  enterprise  took 
possession  of  the  organization  and  in  twenty-five  years 
it  grew  from  sixteen  thousand  members  to  a  hundred 
thousand,  and  in  the  next  twenty-five  years  doubled 
that  number.  Meanwhile  several  educational  institu¬ 
tions  were  established  to  supplement  the  work  of  the 
schools  at  Rock  Island.  Gustavus  Adolphus  College 


GROWTH  IN  NUMBERS  AND  BENEVOLENCE 


223 


at  St.  Peter,  Minnesota,  dates  from  1862,  Bethany 
College  at  Lindsborg,  Kansas,  was  opened  in  1881,  and 
Upsala  College  at  Kenilworth,  New  Jersey,  in  1893. 
The  internal  history  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  as  re¬ 
lated  in  the  next  chapter,  clearly  shows  the  effects  of 
its  remarkable  progress  in  numbers  and  benevolence. 
The  Synod  was  not  without  its  inner  conflicts,  but  the 
growth  and  activity  of  the  body  were  exhilarating  to 
its  members  and  it  succeeded  in  unifying  the  great 
Swedish  constituency  of  the  Lutheran  Council  in 
America.  Its  theological  thought  was  steadily  directed 
into  conservative  channels  by  Dr.  T.  N.  Hasselquist, 
who  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  was  presi¬ 
dent  of  Augustana  College  and  a  teacher  in  the  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary  there  and  editor  of  the  Augustana, 
the  official  organ  of  the  Synod. 

But  the  Norwegians  were  even  more  successful  in 
gathering  their  countrymen  into  the  Lutheran  Church. 
The  Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod,  organized  in  1853, 
with  only  twenty-eight  congregations,  grew  rapidly 
during  this  period  until  it  embraced  a  membership  of 
more  than  a  hundred  fifty  thousand.  For  several  years 
the  Norwegian  Synod  was  a  member 
of  the  German  Synodical  Conference.  The  Norwe&lan 
But  the  largest  body  of  Norwegian  Lutherans 
Lutherans  was  formed  in  1890  when  the  strong  Anti- 
Missouri  Brotherhood,  which  had  separated  from  the 
Norwegian  Synod,  united  with  the  strong  Norwegian- 
Danish  Conference,  and  the  smaller  Norwegian  Augus¬ 
tana  Synod,  and  organized  the  United  Norwegian 
Church.  This  body  numbered  more  than  a  quarter  of 


224  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


a  million  members  before  the  end  of  the  period.  Alto¬ 
gether  the  various  organizations  of  Norwegian  Luth¬ 
erans  in  this  country  counted  over  half  a  million  mem¬ 
bers  in  1910.  Their  chief  seminary  is  at  St.  Paul,  Min¬ 
nesota.  Their  largest  college  is  St.  Olaf  College  at 
Northfield,  Minnesota,  founded  in  1874.  Luther  College 
at  Decorah,  Iowa,  dates  from  1861.  Another  large  insti¬ 
tution  is  Concordia  College  at  Moorhead,  Minnesota, 
which  was  opened  in  1891.  They  have  their  official 
organs,  the  Norwegian  in  Lutheraneren,  the  English 
in  The  United  Lutheran.  With  a  variety  of  organiza¬ 
tion  and  a  multitude  of  problems  to  distract  them,  the 
Norwegian  Lutherans  have  yet  labored  manfully  for 
unity  among  themselves,  and  they  have  manifested 
great  zeal  in  all  lines  of  missions  and  benevolence. 

The  Danish  immigrants  effected  two  Church  organi¬ 
zations.  The  first  began  in  1872  and  is  called  the 
Danish  Lutheran  Church  in  America.  It  claimed  to 
be  a  branch  of  the  national  church  of  Denmark  and 
received  aid  from  the  Danish  government,  but  it  never 
numbered  more  than  fifteen  thousand  members.  The 


second  organization  began  in  1884  when 
many  of  the  Danes  in  the  Norwegian- 
Danish  Conference  withdrew  from 


Danish 

Lutheran  Bodies 


that  body.  In  1896  they  united  with  those  who  had 
separated  from  the  Danish  Lutheran  Church  in 
America  because  of  its  false  doctrine  and  its  State- 
Church  ideas,  and  formed  the  United  Danish  Lutheran 
Church  in  America.  This  organization  is  only  slightly 
larger  than  the  older  body  of  Danish  Lutherans.  The 
Qanes  have  been  much  distracted  by  factional  differ- 


GROWTH  IX  NUMBERS  AND  BENEVOLENCE 


225 


ences  on  questions  of  polity  and  of  practice,  and  have 
not  been  so  successful  as  the  Swedes  and  Norwegians 
in  gathering  their  immigrant  countrymen  into  their 
churches  or  even  in  maintaining  their  hold  on  their 
own  sons  and  daughters. 

From  the  figures  that  have  been  enumerated  it  will 
be  seen  that  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  Scandi¬ 
navian  immigrants  did  not  unite  with  the  Lutheran 
Church.  A  very  small  percentage  of  them  united  with 
other  American  Churches.  The  vast  majority  of  them, 
therefore,  constituted  a  “Lutheran  constituency”  and 
presented  a  most  inviting  mission  field  for  the  Luth¬ 
eran  Church  in  this  country,  especially 
for  the  Lutheran  Church  of  Scandi-  The  Home 

navian  origin.  The  sturdy  personal  challenge 
qualities  of  the  Scandinavians  together 
with  their  uniform  loyalty  to  historic  Lutheranism 
impelled  them  to  take  up  the  challenge  and  enter  the 
field.  The  result  was  a  high  spirit  of  enterprise  among 
the  Swedes  and  Norwegians,  a  vigorous  development 
of  the  practical  activities  of  the  Church,  and  as  these 
Scandinavians  constituted  nearly  one-fourth  of  all  the 
Lutherans  in  America,  their  wholesome  spirit  reacted 
favorably  on  the  entire  Lutheran  Church. 

Even  apart  from  the  increase  due  to  the  immigra¬ 
tion  of  European  Lutherans,  much  of  the  growth  in 
the  Church  is  accounted  for  by  the  natural  increase 
of  the  Lutheran  population  in  America  and  by  the 
aggressive  missionary  spirit  that  began  to  pervade  all 
branches  of  the  Church.  The  impulse  of  big  business 
was  strongly  felt  in  the  benevolences  and  the  practical 

15 


226  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


affairs  of  the  Church.  We  have  seen  that  in  1869  the 
General  Synod  centralized  its  chief  branches  of  benevo¬ 


lence  and  put  them  in  the  hands  of  gen¬ 
eral  boards.  In  this  way  the  General 
Synod  was  prepared  to  go  forward  rap¬ 
idly  in  its  work  when  the  new  spirit 


Enterprise 
in  the  Older 
Bodies 


of  enterprise  visited  American  Christianity.  The  ener¬ 
gies  and  resources  of  the  entire  general  body  were 
marshalled  behind  the  several  lines  of  benevolent 
operation.  Other  general  bodies  were  quick  to  see  the 
practical  advantages  of  thus  unifying  their  benevolent 
forces  instead  of  dividing  them  up  among  the  district 
synods,  and  as  rapidly  as  their  theories  of  church 
polity  would  permit  they  proceeded  to  manufacture 
the  new  machinery  necessary  for  the  most  effective 
combination  of  agencies.  The  result  was  seen  not  only 
in  the  more  effective  work  in  older  lines  of  benevolence 
but  also  in  the  new  branches  of  benevolence  that  began 
to  receive  cultivation  and  in  the  new  fields  that  were 
opened  by  missionary  agencies. 

The  General  Synod  and  the  General  Council  vied  with 
each  other  in  sending  their  home  mission  agents  west¬ 
ward  across  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  then  across  the 


Rockies  and  on  to  the  Pacific  Coast. 
One  by  one  the  most  strategic  places 
were  occupied.  The  only  limit  to  the 
harvest  was  the  lack  of  laborers  to 
man  the  fields.  The  General  Synod 


Westward 
Movement 
of  the  General 
Synod 


forces  moved  due  westward  from  Ohio,  Indiana  and 
Illinois,  while  the  General  Council  claimed  the  great 
Northwest  as  its  territory.  The  new  synods  that  were 


GROWTH  IN  NUMBERS  AND  BENEVOLENCE 


227 


formed  indicate  the  line  of  march.  We  have  seen  that 
the  Kansas  Synod  was  organized  in  1868  and  joined 
the  General  Synod.  Then  came  the  Nebraska  Synod 
in  1871,  the  Rocky  Mountain  Synod  in  1891,  and  the 
California  Synod  the  same  year.  The  General  Synod 
was  specially  concerned  to  care  for  the  English  Luth¬ 
erans  wTho  had  migrated  from  the  East.  But  it  also 
helped  to  organize  the  immigrant  Germans.  The  Ger¬ 
man  Wartburg  Synod  sprang  from  the  Central  Illinois 
Synod  in  1872  and  united  with  the  General  Synod,  and 
the  German  Nebraska  Synod,  organized  in  1890,  also 
joined  the  General  Synod. 

This  westward  expansion  of  the  General  Synod,  to¬ 
gether  w7ith  the  increases  in  the  older  parts  of  the  body 
more  than  tripled  its  membership.  The  spirit  of  large 
undertaking  was  infused  into  its  work,  so  that  while  the 
numbers  in  the  General  Synod  were  tripled  the  benevo¬ 
lences  of  the  body  increased  ten  fold. 

The  Board  of  Home  Missions  was  General  Synod 

Growth 

thoroughly  organized  to  explore  the 
land  and  plant  the  Church.  In  these  forty  years  the 
Board  expended  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  of 
dollars,  and  established  over  six  hundred  new  congre¬ 
gations,  which  of  themselves  contributed  more  than 
five  million  dollars  for  benevolence.  In  this  work 
substantial  aid  was  given  by  the  Board  of  Church 
Extension,  whose  assets  at  the  end  of  the  period  were 
approaching  a  million  dollars. 

The  lack  of  pastors  for  the  English  Lutheran  con¬ 
gregations  of  the  western  synods  called  for  a  college 
farther  west  than  Carthage,  Illinois.  Accordingly, 


228  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


in  1887  Midland  College  was  founded  at  Atchison,  Kan¬ 
sas,  and  in  connection  with  it  the  Western  Theological 


Seminary  was  opened  in  1893.  These 
institutions  were  afterwards  removed 
to  Fremont,  Nebraska.  Not  a  few 


Midland 

College 


of  the  graduates  from  older  institutions  in  the  East 
heeded  the  call  to  the  inviting  fields  in  the  West. 

The  Germans  of  the  General  Synod  were  the  special 
object  of  care  to  Dr.  J.  D.  Severinghaus.  He  brought 
pastors  for  them  from  Germany,  especially  from  Brek- 
lum  Seminary.  In  1883  he  established  a  German  Semi¬ 
nary  in  Chicago,  but  thirteen  years  later  the  Wartburg 


and  the  German  Nebraska  Synods  took 
charge  of  the  work  and  transferred  it 
to  Atchison.  The  German  Nebraska 
Synod  afterwards  established  its  own 


The  Germans 
of  the  General 
Synod 


seminary,  the  Martin  Luther  Seminary  at  Lincoln, 
Nebraska.  The  German  element  in  the  General  Synod 
founded  its  own  publishing  house  at  Burlington,  Iowa, 
and  its  own  church  paper,  the  Lutherischer  Zionsbote. 
But  the  General  Synod  became  constantly  more  English 
and  in  1910  only  one-tenth  of  its  pastors  and  congre¬ 
gations  used  the  German  language.  The  care  of  the 
Lutherans  from  Germany  devolved  most  largely  on 
other  Lutheran  bodies. 

In  the  General  Council  it  was  the  Pittsburgh  Synod 
that  carried  on  home  missionary  work  most  exten¬ 
sively.  It  sent  missionaries  to  Canada,  Minnesota  and 
Texas,  and  laid  the  foundation  for  the  synods  that 
were  afterwards  organized  in  these  parts.  The  mov¬ 
ing  spirit  in  this  work  was  Dr.  Passavant.  The  work 


GROWTH  IN  NUMBERS  AND  BENEVOLENCE 


229 


Westward 
Expansion 
of  the  General 
Council 


was  furthered  and  coordinated  by  the  General  Coun¬ 
cil’s  English  and  German  Mission 
Boards  after  these  were  established. 

The  missionary  operations  were 
pushed  with  special  zeal  in  the  fertile 
Lutheran  territory  of  the  Northwest. 

Very  early  in  this  period  when  the  principles  of  the 
General  Council  were  finally  determined,  a  number  of 
the  synods  that  had  engaged  in  the  earlier  negotiations 
withdrew  from  the  organization.  Such  were  the  Wis¬ 
consin,  Minnesota,  Illinois  and  Michigan  Synods.  All  of 
these  joined  the  Missourians  in  the  Synodical  Confer¬ 
ence.  But  the  General  Council  made  good  these  losses 
by  its  missionary  advance  into  the  Northwest.  In 
1871  it  organized  the  Chicago  Synod,  until  1896  called 
the  Indiana  Synod.  Then  in  1891  came  the  English 
Synod  of  the  Northwest.  This  was  organized  in  order 
to  conserve  the  many  English  missions  that  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Council  had  established  at  strategical  points  in 
Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  the  Dakotas,  Utah,  and  Wash¬ 
ington.  In  that  same  year  a  number  of  German  con¬ 
gregations  in  the  Canadian  Northwest  were  united  in 
the  Manitoba  Synod.  Then  in  the  organization  of  the 
Pacific  Synod  in  1901  out  of  the  western  part  of  the 
Synod  of  the  Northwest,  the  General  Council  also 
reached  the  Pacific  Coast.  Immediately  the  work  was 
pushed  northward,  and  the  Nova  Scotia  Synod  was 
formed  out  of  the  Pittsburgh  Synod  in  1903  while  the 
Central  Canada  Synod  was  organized  by  the  General 
Council  Board  in  1908. 

These  new  synods  flourished,  and  to  supply  their 


230  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

educational  needs  new  schools  were  established.  Thiel 
College  was  established  in  1870  and  finally  located  at 
Greenville,  Pennsylvania.  Wagner  College  was  founded 
at  Rochester,  New  York,  in  1883  and  afterwards  trans¬ 
ferred  to  Long  Island.  Dr.  Passavant  was  instru¬ 
mental  in  establishing  the  Chicago  Theological  Semi¬ 


nary  in  1891  and  under  Dr.  Weidner’s 
direction  it  grew  to  great  usefulness, 
particularly  in  furnishing  ministerial 


New  Colleges 
and  Seminaries 


supplies  for  the  English  congregations  of  the  North¬ 
west.  The  German  Canada  Synod  and  the  Central 
Canada  Synod  drew  their  ministers  largely  from  the 
Kropp  Seminary  in  Germany,  but  when  this  source  of 
supply  was  cut  off  in  1913  these  two  synods  began  to 
maintain  their  own  seminary  at  Waterloo,  Ontario. 
The  Manitoba  Synod  has  its  school  at  Saskatoon 
since  1913.  The  Pacific  Synod  in  1911  founded  a 
theological  seminary  at  Portland,  Oregon,  but  soon 
removed  it  to  Seattle,  Washington.  Thus  the  geo¬ 
graphical  line  of  the  educational  advance  also  reached 
the  Pacific  Coast. 

But  while  the  missionary  forces  of  the  Church  were 
following  the  westward  movement  of  the  population 
across  the  continent,  they  were  at  the  same  time  help¬ 
ing  to  solve  the  problems  growing  out  of  the  enormous 
increase  of  city  population  in  the  East.  The  growth 
of  urban  population  was  one  of  the  striking  character¬ 


istics  of  the  business  age.  It  called  for 
a  high  spirit  of  enterprise  on  the  part 
of  the  Church.  All  parts  of  the  Luth- 


The  Spirit  of 
Enterprise 


eran  Church  responded  to  the  call.  A  variety  of 


GROWTH  IN  NUMBERS  AND  BENEVOLENCE 


231 


methods  were  employed,  many  hands  were  laid  to  the 
work,  and  a  multiplicity  of  organizations  were  formed 
to  minister  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  expanding 
population.  City  missions  and  inner  missions  came 
on  the  scene  with  their  respective  boards,  committees, 
and  superintendents.  The  result  was  that  the  eastern 
synods  grew  rapidly  in  size  and  strength.  They  gath¬ 
ered  the  same  spirit  of  enterprise  from  the  conscious¬ 
ness  of  their  rapid  growth  as  the  newly  formed  synods 
farther  west  gathered  from  the  enthusiasm  of  their 
youth.  In  greater  New  York  City  alone,  where  at 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War  there  were  only  two  Eng¬ 
lish  Lutheran  churches  and  twenty-two  others,  and 
where  in  1870  there  were  only  thirty-four  in  all,  in 
1910  there  were  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  Lutheran  Churches,  and  in  1918  one  hundred  and 
sixty-six.  Lutheranism  had  become  a  force  to  be  reck¬ 
oned  with  in  the  religious  life  of  the  nation’s  metropo¬ 
lis.  Similar  progress  was  made  in  the  other  large 
cities  of  the  land.  But  with  all  her  large  increases 
in  city  population  during  this  period,  the  Lutheran 
Church  continued  to  be  predominantly  a  rural  Church. 
Her  membership  in  the  country  districts  did  not  show 
the  losses  that  many  other  denominations  showed  but 
grew  and  multiplied,  so  that  in  1910  three-fourths  of 
her  members  were  found  in  rural  communities  and 
towns  of  less  than  25,000  people. 

The  spirit  of  enterprise  that  characterized  the 
Church  in  this  period  is  further  indicated  by  her  for¬ 
eign  missionary  achievements.  In  1869  the  field 
among  the  Telugus  in  India  was  divided,  the  Guntur 


232  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


station  being  assigned  to  the  General  Synod  and  the 
Rajahmundry  station  to  the  General  Council.  The 

two  missions  maintained  most  cordial 
Mission  in  relations.  The  work  was  well  sup¬ 

ported  by  the  Church  both  with  men 
and  with  means.  The  number  of  the  missionaries  in¬ 
creased  to  thirty.  The  outstanding  names  are  Unangst, 
Harpster  and  Uhl,  of  the  General  Synod,  and  Heyer, 
and  Schmidt  of  the  General  Council.  More  than  a 
thousand  native  workers  were  employed  in  Christian 
work.  A  hospital  and  a  college  were  established  at 
Guntur,  and  the  medical  and  educational  work  of  the 
mission  received  wide  recognition.  In  1910  the  native 
membership  on  this  field  was  nearly  fifty  thousand. 

The  mission  established  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa 
by  the  General  Synod  through  Morris  Officer  took  an 
awful  toll  of  the  lives  of  missionaries  because  of  the 

deadly  climate.  But  reinforcements 
In  Africa  arrived  from  time  to  time  and  this 

mission  furnished  many  examples  of  heroic  faith  and 
courage.  The  name  of  Dr.  David  A.  Day  is  closely 
associated  with  the  mission  because  he  succeeded  in 
continuing  his  splendid  labors  on  that  field  for  more 
than  twenty  years  before  the  dread  African  fever 
carried  him  off. 

In  Japan  the  Lutheran  Church  of  America  was  first 

represented  by  the  United  Synod 
In  Japan  0f  the  South.  In  1892  work  was 

begun  in  the  city  of  Saga  on  the  island  of  Kyushu.  The 
mission  soon  extended  its  work  to  other  cities  on  that 
island.  The  General  Council  cooperated  in  this  work  and 


GROWTH  IN  NUMBERS  AND  BENEVOLENCE  233 


Other  Foreign 
Missions 


in  1908  also  established  its  own  mission  in  Tokyo. 
Thus  was  laid  the  foundation  of  a  large  missionary 
undertaking  in  that  progressive  Empire. 

The  total  contributions  for  foreign  missions  in  the 
General  Synod,  the  General  Council,  and  the  United 
Synod  of  the  South  during  the  last  biennium  of  this 
period  reached  the  half  million  mark. 

The  foreign  missionary  activity  of  the  Joint  Synod  of 
Ohio  and  the  German  Synod  of  Iowa  was  carried  on 
through  the  societies  of  Germany.  The 
work  of  the  Missouri  Synod  calls  for  a 
separate  statement.  The  Scandinavians 
responded  right  nobly  to  the  call  of  the  foreign  mission 
enterprise.  The  Augustana  Synod  cooperated  with 
the  General  Council  in  its  work  in  India,  and  in  addi¬ 
tion  helped  the  societies  of  Sweden  to  carry  on  a  very 
successful  work  in  China.  The  Norwegian  Lutherans 
in  America  also  were  very  active  in  China,  and  their 
different  bodies  contributed  §118,000  to  this  work  in 
1915.  The  Norwegians  are  likewise  laboring  exten¬ 
sively  in  the  southern  part  of  Madagascar.  Altogether 
the  various  bodies  of  Lutherans  in  America  in  1910 
were  making  an  annual  expenditure  for  missions  and 
other  benevolences  of  two  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars 
and  for  local  purposes  an  additional  ten  millions. 

These  facts  and  figures,  concerning  the  growth  in 
the  numbers  of  Lutherans  and  the  expansion  of  their 
benevolences,  represent  a  splendid  advance  over 
preceding  achievements  along  all  lines.  They  show 
that  the  Church  was  alert  to  avail  herself  of 
every  opportunity  to  help  establish  the  Kingdom 


234  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


of  God  on  earth.  She  was  ready  to  employ  all 
manner  of  organization  that  a  highly  organized  society 
could  suggest.  She  made  use  of  the  newest  inven¬ 


tions  of  science  and  the  most  ap¬ 
proved  methods  of  business  in  that 
scientific  business  age.  She  quickened 
all  her  movements  to  keep  pace 


Significance 
of  the  New 
Advance 


with  those  strenuous  times.  She  accepted  the 
peculiar  responsibility  devolving  upon  her  to  minister 
the  age-old  Gospel  to  the  new  needs  of  a  rapidly 
growing  nation.  She  no  longer  apologized  for  her 
existence  on  this  continent,  nor  did  she  try  to  tone 
down  her  distinguishing  characteristics.  With  a  strong 
appeal  to  her  membership  for  deeper  devotion  and 
more  intense  loyalty  she  drew  together  her  forces, 
conserved  her  faith  and  her  talent,  and  quietly  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  make  her  impress  on  the  land  of  her  adoption 
and  to  take  her  place  as  one  of  the  outstanding  forces 
in  American  Christianity  of  the  twentieth  century. 
But  great  as  was  the  advance  during  the  days  of  big 
business,  these  facts  and  figures  are  only  a  dim 
prophecy  of  much  greater  things  yet  to  come. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  INNER  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  AUGUSTANA 

SYNOD  * 


Historical 

Foundations 

congregations 
in  1860.  The 


Nowhere  was  the  spirit  of  expansion  and  enterprise 
more  evident  in  this  period  than  among  the  Swedish 
Lutherans  of  America.  It  was  the  period  of  most  rapid 
growth  and  greatest  internal  changes  in  the  Augustana 
Synod.  In  order  to  understand  this  internal  develop¬ 
ment  it  will  be  necessary  to  go  back  beyond  the  time 
when  the  synod  was  organized.  For 
the  general  character  of  the  body  and 
its  main  lines  of  progress  rest  back 
upon  the  earlier  history  of  the 
that  helped  to  constitute  the  Synod 
foundations  of  the  synodical  structure  were  wisely 
established  by  the  pioneers  long  before  the  swell¬ 
ing  tide  of  immigration  in  this  period  put  the 
edifice  to  its  severest  test. 

The  Swedish  settlements  on  the  Delaware  River  in 
the  seventeenth  century  lost  all  contact  with  old  Swe¬ 
den  in  the  next  century,  and  all  immigration  from 
Sweden  to  America  ceased.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  A  New 

the  common  people  of  Sweden  knew  fmmh^atiorf 
nothing  of  the  old  colony  of  their 
countrymen  on  the  Delaware,  and  when  in  the  fifth 
decade  of  that  century  the  spirit  of  emigration  began  to 
move  again  among  the  Lutheran  parishes  of  Sweden, 


*For  most  of  the  materials  embodied  in  this  chapter  the  author  is  indebted 
to  the  Rev.  Conrad  Bergendoff,  of  the  Augustana  Synod. 

235 


236  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Unonius  at 
Pine  Lake 


the  old  Lutheran  churches  on  the  Delaware  had  passed 
out  of  Lutheran  hands  and  so  gave  neither  impulse  nor 
direction  to  the  new  stream  of  Swedish  immigration. 
It  is  wholly  to  this  new  current,  therefore,  that  the 
Lutheran  Church  of  America  owes  her  stalwart 
Swedish  constituency  today. 

At  the  beginning  of  that  fifth  decade  of  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century  the  King  of  Sweden  inaugurated  a 
liberal  policy  and  gave  his  subjects  the  privilege  of 
emigrating  without  securing  a  special  permit  and 
paying  a  heavy  fee.  As  early  as  1841  Gustaf  Unonius 

and  a  number  of  companions  took  ad¬ 
vantage  of  that  privilege  and  settled 
a  small  colony  of  Swedes  at  Pine  Lake, 
Wisconsin.  Unonius  became  a  familiar  figure  in  the 
religious  history  of  the  early  Swedish  settlements  in 
the  West.  But  he  and  his  party  were  not  the  sort  to 
effect  a  successful  settlement  in  a  new  country  and 
their  colony  soon  came  to  nought. 

Of  greater  vitality  was  the  settlement  under  the 
leadership  of  Erik  Janson  in  1846.  The  Jansonites 
were  religious  fanatics  who  believed  in  their  leader’s 
inspiration  and  their  own  sinlessness.  Persecuted  in 
Sweden  they  emigrated  to  America  and  set  up  a  com¬ 
munistic  regime  in  the  Bishop  Hill 
The  Jansomtes  Colony  in  Illinois.  To  this  place  their 

perverted  religious  enthusiasm  attracted  hundreds  of 
families  from  Sweden  during  the  next  ten  years.  The 
colony  went  the  way  of  similar  religious  ventures  and 
about  1860  internal  dissension  and  immorality  com¬ 
bined  to  dissolve  the  organization.  But  its  members 


INNER  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD  237 


must  be  counted  among  the  vanguard  of  Swedish  im¬ 
migration  to  America. 

But  the  great  body  of  Swedish  immigrants  did  not 
come,  like  the  Jansonites,  in  search  of  greater  civil 
and  religious  liberty.  Their  dominant  motive  was  eco¬ 
nomic.  The  Swedes  were  by  nature  industrious  and 
thrifty.  But  their  opportunities  in  Sweden  were  lim¬ 
ited  by  land  conditions  over  which  the 

peasantry  had  no  control.  The  land  Emigration 

,  ..  , .  .  _  .  From  Sweden 

was  poor  and  unequally  divided.  The 
wealth  of  the  country  and  the  best  part  of  the  land 
was  concentrated  in  a  few  hands,  and  a  large  portion 
of  the  intelligent  and  prudent  classes  were  compelled 
to  drag  out  their  lives  in  poverty.  When,  therefore, 
letters  from  America  began  to  reach  the  quiet  hamlets 
of  Sweden  telling  of  the  great  land  of  opportunity 
beyond  the  Atlantic,  the  fever  of  emigration  spread 
among  the  people  and  thousands  set  their  faces  stead¬ 
fastly  towards  the  West.  Newspapers  and  other  cur¬ 
rent  literature  spread  the  fever.  Emigrant  societies 
also  aided  the  movement.  And  in  the  beginning  of 
the  sixth  decade  the  tide  of  emigration  began  to  flow 
strongly. 

Most  of  these  Swedish  immigrants  found  homes  in 
the  Middle  West.  Only  small  groups  remained  behind 
in  Massachusetts  and  New  York.  En¬ 
tering  at  the  port  of  New  York  their  Settling  the 

Middle  West 

usual  route  of  travel  was  up  the 
Hudson  to  Albany,  from  there  on  the  Erie  Canal 
to  Buffalo,  and  then  through  the  Lakes  to  Chicago. 
From  this  point  they  made  their  way  inland  to  Illinois, 


238  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Iowa  and  Minnesota.  Indiana,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin 
also  received  scattered  bands.  The  chief  agents  in  de*. 
termining  their  course  of  travel  were  two  Swedish 
preachers,  the  brothers  Olof  and  Jonas  Hedstrom,  the 
one  in  New  York,  the  other  in  Illinois.  Not  until  the 
closing  years  of  the  century  did  the  cities  of  the  East 
offer  industrial  and  commercial  advantages  attractive 
enough  to  detain  any  considerable  number  of  the  im¬ 
migrants  there.  Meanwhile  individuals  and  groups 
struck  out  to  distant  points,  such  as  Texas,  Florida 
and  California.  Of  late  years  in  particular  the  Great 
Northwest  has  drawn  large  numbers  to  its  forests  and 
cities.  So  that  within  half  a  century  Swedish  immi¬ 
grants  have  penetrated  to  nearly  every  State  in  the 
Union.  But  the  Middle  West  has  always  continued 
to  be  the  home  of  the  vast  majority. 

Much  that  was  distinctly  Swedish  these  destitute 
pilgrims  in  a  foreign  land  had  left  behind  forever. 
But  not  their  religious  devotion  or  their  Lutheran  con¬ 
victions.  Amid  the  hardships  of  pioneer  life  they 
persistently  cultivated  their  faith.  At  many  places 


the  settlers  came  together  regularly 
each  week  and  selected  one  of  their 
own  number  to  lead  the  Sunday  wor- 


Calling  for 
Pastors 


ship  until  an  ordained  pastor  could  be  obtained.  Those 
early  days  do  not  present  the  picture  of  pastors  seeking 
congregations  but  rather  of  congregations  seeking 
pastors.  The  Church  of  Sweden  paid  little  attention 
to  her  sons  and  daughters  in  America,  and  not  until  a 
native  ministry  could  be  trained  were  the  congrega¬ 
tions  even  tolerably  well  cared  for. 


INNER  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD  239 


But  among  the  pastors  in  Sweden  were  many  who 

had  witnessed  with  anxious  eyes  the  departure  of  their 

parishioners  for  America.  Not  a  few  of  these  pastors 

felt  that  the  Church  of  Sweden  was 

still  responsible  for  those  members.  Esbjorn 

Arrives 

Such  a  one  was  Lars  P.  Esbjorn. 

With  only  a  small  subsidy  from  the  Swedish  Mission¬ 
ary  Society  he  left  his  native  Church  and  came  to 
America  in  1849.  Following  his  countrymen  west¬ 
ward  his  first  field  of  labor  presented  itself  at  An¬ 
dover,  Illinois. 

Esbjorn  is  considered  by  Swedish  Lutherans  much 
as  Muhlenberg  is  considered  by  those  of  German  ex¬ 
traction.  He  was  the  real  founder  of  the  Augustana 
Synod.  The  labors  of  other  pioneers  may  have  been 
more  evident  in  the  superstructure, 
but  the  strong  foundations  were  laid 
by  Esbjorn.  He  was  an  indefatigable  missionary  and 
preached  in  new  Swedish  settlements  near  and  far. 
He  also  traveled  extensively  among  Eastern  Lutherans 
to  enlist  their  support  of  his  work  in  Illinois. 

The  patriarch  of  Swedish  Lutherans  in  America  en¬ 
countered  many  difficulties  in  his  work.  Not  only  did 
he  contend  with  the  poverty  and  hardship  that  was 
common  to  all  pioneer  communities,  but  he  had  also 
to  face  opposition  within  and  without  his  Church. 
The  immigrants  held  dearly  to  their  Lutheran  faith, 
but  many  of  them  were  bitterly  op¬ 
posed  to  the  State  Church  and  its  Difficulties 
-  ,  ...  .  n  From  Within 

forms  and  representatives.  As  free 

Americans  they  stoutly  refused  to  be  bound  again  by 


His  Work 


240  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


what  they  considered  the  “bonds  and  bands”  of  the 
Church  of  Sweden.  Yielding  somewhat  to  this  spirit 
of  opposition,  Esbjorn  made  certain  changes  in  the 
forms  prescribed  by  the  Swedish  Church  Book.  In 
matters  of  garb  also  compromises  were  made.  But  the 
opposition  was  never  strong  enough  to  force  changes 
in  essentials,  and  gradually  it  became  clear  that 
Swedish  Lutheranism  in  America  did  not  mean  a  State 
Church  regime. 

More  stubborn  and  of  greater  injury  was  the  oppo¬ 
sition  that  Esbjorn’s  work  encountered  from  without. 
Interlopers  were  busy.  Swedish  Methodist  ministers 
early  sought  to  win  the  newcomers  away  from  their 
traditional  faith.  In  some  communities  they  succeeded. 
The  Hedstrom  brothers  were  Methodist,  and  their 


strategic  positions  helped  them  in 
their  efforts  to  turn  the  Swedish  Luth¬ 
erans  to  Methodism.  Later  came  Bap- 


Opposition 
From  Without 


tist  intruders  and  threw  many  a  peaceful  settlement 
into  turmoil.  From  the  first,  too,  the  Episcopal 
Church  tried  to  win  the  State  Church  Lutherans  who 
had  lived  under  episcopal  organization  in  Sweden.  As 
early  as  1849  Unonius  had  organized  a  Scandinavian 
Episcopal  Church  in  America,  and  as  late  as  1874 
Bishop  Whitehouse  officially  proposed  a  union  of  the 
Augustana  Synod  with  the  Episcopal  Church.  Against 
all  these  disrupting  tendencies,  however,  the  pioneer 
churches  with  few  exceptions  held  their  ground  and 
grew  constantly  more  Lutheran  in  conviction  and 
practice.  The  discussions  that  grew  out  of  these  con¬ 
tacts  with  other  Churches  omy  clarified  the  issues  and 


INNER  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD  241 


strengthened  the  faith  both  of  the  pastors  and  the 
congregations  of  Swedish  Lutherans.  And  everywhere 
during  those  formative  years  the  pioneers  felt  the 
steadying  hand  of  Lars  P.  Esbjorn. 

The  number  of  Swedish  settlements  in  the  land  was 
constantly  increasing  as  the  tide  of  immigration  con¬ 
tinued  to  flow,  and  the  call  for  pastors  grew  louder 
and  louder.  The  call  met  with  only  a  small  response 
in  Sweden,  but  the  sterling  quality  of  the  few  who 
came  did  much  to  help  fill  the  need.  They  were  de¬ 
voted  souls  and  wise  leaders.  Three 

years  after  Esbjorn  had  begun  his  Hasselquist 

and  Carlsson 

work  in  America,  T.  N.  Hasselquist 
came  to  Galesburg,  and  the  next  year  Erland  Carlsson 
arrived  at  Chicago.  Both  of  these  men  were  to  have  a 
large  part  in  determining  the  character  of  the  Augus- 
tana  Synod.  They  encouraged  talented  and  consecrated 
young  men  of  the  congregations  to  prepare  themselves 
for  the  Gospel  ministry  and  to  receive  licensure  and 
ordination.  They  themselves  undertook  the  work  of 
teaching  these  younger  men  and  thus  gradually  built 
up  a  native  ministry  that  developed  the  work  along 
the  substantial  lines  laid  down  by  the  leaders. 

The  ten  years  preceding  1860  were  decisive  for  the 
temper  and  policy  of  the  future  Augustana  Synod. 
During  this  period  congregations  con¬ 
tinued  to  grow  in  size  and  in  number 
through  Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa  and 
Minnesota.  Immanuel  Church  in  Chicago  came 
to  have  an  important  place.  This  was  due  to  the 
leadership  of  Erland  Carlsson.  In  the  constitution  that 
16 


Carlsson 
in  Chicago 


242  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

he  prepared  for  his  own  congregation  and  the  Swedish 
churches  in  Indiana  he  laid  down  the  principles  that 
were  afterwards  adopted  by  the  congregations  of  the 
entire  synod.  His  basis  for  membership  in  the  con¬ 
gregations  occupies  middle  ground  between  the  com¬ 
prehensive  character  of  a  State  Church  and  the  exclu¬ 
sive  nature  of  sectarian  congregations.  In  external 
practice  Carlsson  fearlessly  adhered  to  the  forms  of 
the  Swedish  Church,  and  in  this  respect  he  exerted 
a  profound  influence  on  his  brethren.  Several  parties 
were  striving  at  that  time  for  supremacy  in  the 
Church  in  Sweden,  but  Carlsson  wisely  refrained  from 
identifying  himself  with  any  of  these.  He  was  above 
all  else  a  zealous  Christian  and  he  set  an  example  of 
sane,  practical  religion  that  left  its  traces  on  the  synod 
with  whose  early  life  he  was  so  closely  identified.  In 
home  mission  activity  and  educational  work  Carlsson 
started  lines  of  development  that  are  still  unfinished. 

At  the  same  time  that  Carlsson  was  working  in 
Chicago,  Hasselquist  in  Galesburg  and  other  places 
was  impressing  on  the  formative  congregations  some¬ 
thing  of  his  own  simple,  earnest  piety.  His  visits  were 
everywhere  appreciated  and  his  preaching  had  lasting 

effects  on  the  hungering  souls  to  whom 
Hasselquist  he  ministered  the  Word.  He  was  a 

prince  of  preachers  and  Bible  exposi¬ 
tors  and  Swedish  Lutherans  still  regard  him  as  the 
ideal  of  the  evangelical  pulpit.  Through  the  printed 
page  Hasselquist  reached  countless  more  than  he 
reached  in  person,  and  long  before  his  periodical  be¬ 
came  the  official  organ  of  the  Augustana  Synod  it 


INNER  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD  243 


brought  inspiration  and  edification  to  the  new  Swedish 
communities  throughout  the  Middle  West. 

Mention  must  also  be  made  of  0.  C.  T.  Andren,  the 

gifted  pastor  of  the  church  at  Moline,  Illinois.  The 

devout  Christian  spirit  and  the  effective  organization 

developed  in  his  congregation  exerted  a  wide  influence 

on  the  whole  Church.  Nor  would  the  record  for  the 

decade  be  complete  without  the  name 

of  Eric  Norelius.  He  was  very  active  ^ndr®n  and 

Norelius 

during  this  period  in  the  missionary 
and  educational  work  of  the  congregations.  He  after¬ 
wards  prepared  the  congregational  constitution  that 
was  adopted  by  the  synod.  For  over  half  a  century 
he  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  synod. 

During  that  same  decade,  also,  the  Swedish  churches 
united  with  their  Norwegian  brethren  in  those  parts 
to  form  the  United  Scandinavian  Conference.  This 
was  a  deliberative  organization  in  which  the  pastors 
and  laymen  of  both  nationalities  met  to  discuss  matters 
of  common  interest,  such  as  congregational  constitu¬ 
tions,  care  of  vacant  pastorates,  re¬ 
ligious  instruction,  church  music,  mat-  The  United 

ters  of  liturgy,  relations  to  other  conference*” 
Lutheran  bodies,  and  education  of 
ministerial  candidates.  The  last  two  of  these  ques¬ 
tions,  external  relations  and  ministerial  education, 
were  frequent  subjects  of  discussion  in  the  Conference. 
For  the  United  Scandinavian  Conference  belonged  to 
the  Northern  Illinois  Synod,  a  district  of  the  General 
Synod,  and  the  Scandinavians  were  not  altogether 
happy  in  that  relationship. 


244  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


The  Northern 
Illinois  Synod 


When  the  Northern  Illinois  Synod  had  been  organ¬ 
ized  in  1851  Esbjorn  had  been  present.  But  he  had 
protested  against  the  constitution  then  adopted,  be¬ 
cause  of  its  declaration  that  the  Augsburg  Confession 
was  “mainly  correct”  as  “a  summary  of  the  funda¬ 
mental  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion.”  The  next 

year  when  the  Northern  Illinois  Synod 
joined  the  General  Synod,  the  attitude 
of  the  Swedes  and  Norwegians  led  to 
the  statement  that  the  union  with  the  General  Synod 
could  not  be  taken  to  mean  that  everybody  in  the  dis¬ 
trict  synod  agreed  with  the  doctrinal  position  of  the 
general  body.  In  1853  the  word  “mainly”  was  erased 
from  the  synod’s  constitution,  and  the  Scandinavians 
joined  the  synod  in  supporting  the  newly  established 
State  University  at  Springfield,  Illinois.  A  Scandi¬ 
navian  professorship  was  established  at  the  school,  and 
Esbjorn  became  the  first  Scandinavian  professor,  tak¬ 
ing  charge  in  1858. 

But  the  Scandinavians  insisted  on  binding  their 
professor  to  the  Unaltered  Augsburg  Confession.  This 
did  not  accord  with  the  tastes  of  some  of  the  other 
members  of  the  Synod  who  were  advocates  of  “Ameri¬ 
can  Lutheranism.”  It  soon  became  evident  that  there 
was  a  serious  difference  between  the  Lutheranism  of 

the  United  Scandinavian  Conference 
The  Break  and  that  of  the  rest  of  the  Northern 

Illinois^ 0rthern  Illinois  Synod.  But  open  discussion  of 

the  issues  was  avoided.  However,  the 
incident  of  the  Definite  Platform  was  disquieting  to 
the  Scandinavians,  and  finally  the  reception  of  the 


INNER  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD  245 


Melanchthon  Synod  into  the  General  Synod  together 
with  the  growing  Lutheran  consciousness  of  the  Scan¬ 
dinavian  Churches  made  the  break  inevitable.  Esbjorn 
had  been  dissatisfied  with  conditions  at  Springfield, 
and  in  1860  he  declared  it  impossible  to  remain  there 
any  longer.  He  went  to  Chicago  and  set  up  a  semi¬ 
nary  in  Immanuel  Church,  and  nearly  all  of  the  Scan¬ 
dinavian  students  left  the  school  at  Springfield. 

The  Swedes  and  Norwegians  were  now  free  to  de¬ 
velop  their  own  synodical  life.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Scandinavian  Conference  in  the  spring  of  1860,  Esb- 
jorn’s  action  was  approved,  and  it  was  resolved  to 
organize  a  new  synod.  This  resolu¬ 
tion  was  carried  into  effect  at  Jefferson  Augustana 
Prairie,  Wisconsin,  in  June,  1860,  Synod 
when  the  Augustana  Synod  came  into 
being.  There  were  then  thirty-six  Swedish  congrega¬ 
tions,  fifteen  in  Illinois,  thirteen  in  Minnesota,  three  in 
Iowa,  three  in  Indiana,  one  in  New  York,  and  one 
in  Pennsylvania.  The  communicant  membership  of 
the  Synod  included  3,747  Swedish  members,  cared  for 
by  twenty-five  pastors,  eight  of  whom  were  ordained 
at  that  first  meeting. 

In  the  progress  of  the  Augustana  Synod  since  its 
organization  in  1860  three  well-defined  periods  may 
be  distinguished.  The  first  witnessed  the  steady 
growth  of  the  synodical  idea,  and  this 
period  covers  a  round  decade.  The  Periods  of 
next  period  is  characterized  by  the  Devel°Pment 
growing  importance  of  the  conferences  in  the  Synod. 
This  process  covered  about  twenty-five  years.  The 


246  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


The  Seminary 


last  period,  that  since  1895,  has  gathered  the  fruits 
of  the  first  two  periods  in  the  form  of  continued  growth 
and  internal  reorganization. 

The  new  synod  started  on  a  sound  Lutheran  basis, 
as  its  very  name  suggests.  It  soon  began  to  attack  its 
internal  problems  with  vigor  and  thus  early  developed 
its  synodical  consciousness.  The  first  problem  was  to 
establish  and  thoroughly  equip  its  Seminary.  In  1863 

this  institution  was  removed  from 
Chicago  to  Paxton,  Illinois,  and  Has- 
selquist  succeeded  Esbjorn,  who  had  returned  to  Swe¬ 
den.  During  those  early  years  much  aid  and  encour¬ 
agement  came  to  the  struggling  school  through  the 
efforts  of  0.  C.  T.  Andren.  His  mission  to  Sweden  on 
behalf  of  the  Seminary  was  signally  successful.  The 
Seminary  remained  in  Paxton  until  1875  when  it  re¬ 
ceived  its  final  home  in  Rock  Island.  Here  it  devel¬ 
oped  college  and  academy  departments.  To  these  other 
departments  have  gradually  been  added  until  the  cur¬ 
riculum  now  approaches  university  proportions. 

The  second  problem  for  the  synod  during  this  first 
period  was  that  of  home  missions.  From  the  begin¬ 
ning  the  new  body  felt  itself  responsible  for  the  vacant 
congregations  and  unorganized  fields  among  the 
Swedes  of  America.  To  meet  this  responsibility  a 
missionary  committee  was  elected,  and  through  this 
agency  the  work  of  extending  the  synod  went  on.  As 

rapidly  as  possible  means  were  secured 
and  men  commissioned  to  carry  the 
ministry  of  the  Word  to  the  Swedish  Lutherans  in 
Kansas,  in  the  Lake  Superior  region  of  Minnesota,  in 


Home  Missions 


INNER  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD  247 


western  Iowa,  in  New  York  State,  in  Massachusetts 
and  Vermont,  in  Michigan  and  Nebraska.  In  this  way 
the  geographical  borders  of  the  synod  were  spread  by 
leaps  and  bounds,  and  the  synodical  consciousness  of 
Augustana  deepened  year  by  year. 

In  addition  to  these  questions  of  internal  policy, 
external  relationships  also  occupied  the  attention  of 
the  synod  in  the  first  decade  of  its  life.  In  1867  Dr. 
Hasselquist  was  present  at  the  organization  of  the 
General  Council.  He  was  sufficiently  impressed  to  urge 
his  own  synod  to  join  the  new  body.  But  his  brethren 
were  cautious,  in  part  perhaps  because 
they  had  painful  memories  of  a  former  eternal 
alliance.  By  1870,  however,  doubts  Relatlons 
had  disappeared  and  union  with  the  General  Council 
was  agreed  on.  Even  in  those  early  days  the  exact 
status  of  the  Augustana  Synod  in  the  Council  was  not 
fully  understood.  There  was  so  much  disparity  be¬ 
tween  the  Augustana  Synod  and  the  other  district 
synods  in  the  Council  that  in  certain  parts  of  the 
Augustana  Synod  the  demand  eventually  arose  for 
withdrawal  from  the  Council.  But  in  1870  it  was  felt 
that  certain  tasks  of  the  Church  could  best  be  under¬ 
taken  in  common  with  other  synods,  and  a  common 
adherence  to  the  Lutheran  Confessions  was  considered 
sufficient  cause  for  union.  Accordingly  the  Augustana 
Synod  united  with  the  Council.  Before  this  union 
took  place,  however,  the  Norwegians  in  the  Augus¬ 
tana  Synod  asked  for  a  separate  organization.  This 
was  peaceably  agreed  to.  So  in  1870  the  synod 
exchanged  one  ally  for  another,  but  for  their  Nor- 


248  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


wegian  brethren  the  Swedes  had  only  the  kindliest 
feelings. 

When  in  1870  the  Augustana  Synod  joined  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Council  its  ninety-nine  Swedish  congregations  had 
attained  a  high  degree  of  solidarity  and  had  developed 
a  clear  consciousness  of  their  own  mission.  Then 
began  a  new  period  in  the  history  of  the  synod.  The 


next  twenty-five  years  were  to  witness 
a  wide  diversification  of  work  among 
them  and  this  in  turn  made  necessary 


More  Rapid 
Growth 


a  new  definition  of  the  relation  of  the  congregations 
to  the  synod.  This  period  brought  a  tremendous  num¬ 
ber  of  immigrants  from  Sweden,  and  membership  lists 
grew  rapidly.  The  16,000  members  of  1870  were  more 
than  doubled  in  the  next  five  years,  and  between  1880 
and  1890  the  membership  doubled  again.  In  1895  the 
hundred  thousand  mark  was  passed,  and  the  ninety- 
nine  congregations  had  grown  to  818,  served  by  four 
hundred  pastors. 

In  the  face  of  these  conditions  the  old  Mission  Com¬ 
mittee  of  the  synod  gave  way  to  a  new  agency  called 
the  “Central  Committee.”  This,  as  its  name  implies, 
was  mainly  a  clearing  house  for  the  missionary  work 
of  the  conferences.  As  the  synodical  agency  saw  that 


it  could  not  care  for  the  whole  field 
conference  divisions  were  recognized 
and  even  subdivisions  into  districts. 
Each  conference  became  responsible 


Conferences 
Assume  the 
Work 


for  the  missionary  work  on  the  territory  it  covered, 
though  its  mission  board  was  subordinate  to  that  of 
the  synod.  This  decentralization  not  only  relieved  the 


Inner  development  of  augustana  synod  249 


Central  Committee  of  an  enormous  task  but  also 
prompted  the  conferences  to  the  performance  of  that 
task.  More  and  more  the  conferences  became  the  units 
of  work  within  the  synod.  Kansas,  Nebraska  and  New 
York  established  their  own  institutions  of  learning  in 
this  period.  Nebraska,  Illinois,  and  Minnesota  started 
hospitals.  Iowa,  Kansas,  New  York  and  Illinois  began 
orphanages.  In  general,  these  were  years  of  intensive 
labor,  and  the  comparative  freedom  given  the  confer¬ 
ences  stimulated  local  endeavor. 

By  1880  the  synod  had  so  far  recognized  the  work 
of  the  conferences  as  to  establish  a  Synodical  Council. 
This  was  made  up  of  representatives  from  the  con¬ 
ferences  and  was  designed  to  prepare  the  work  of 
each  meeting  of  the  synod.  In  1894  the  new  constitu¬ 
tion  of  the  synod  officially  approved  of  the  conference 
organization  and  thus  made  permanent 
what  necessity  had  originated.  At  the  Synodical 
same  session  it  became  evident  that  the 
synod  had  now  grown  to  such  dimensions  as  to  make 
impossible  universal  representation  from  the  congre¬ 
gations.  So  it  was  decided  that  thereafter  the  con¬ 
ferences  should  elect  representatives  to  the  meeting 
of  synod  in  proportion  to  their  membership. 

The  larger  powers  of  the  Church  still  remained  in 
the  hands  of  the  synod,  such  as  ordina¬ 
tion  of  ministers,  ministerial  educa-  Powers 

tion,  and  matters  pertaining  to  the  lit-  Retained  by 

Synod 

urgy,  the  hymnal,  and  the  catechism. 

The  synod  likewise  retained  the  responsibility  of 
approving  congregational  constitutions  and  of  fur- 


250  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


nishing  the  congregations  with  religious  literature. 
A  pension  fund  of  almost  a  million  dollars  is  also  under 
synodical  control.  But  of  home  mission  work  the 
synod  had  left  to  it  after  1880  only  such  fields  as  were 
beyond  the  confines  of  the  conferences.  Such  fields 
were  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  in  Mormon  territory,  and 
in  Idaho,  Montana,  Alabama  and  Florida.  All  of  these 
fields,  except  the  Pacific  Coast,  are  still  cared  for  by 
the  synod. 


But  as  its  home  mission  field  decreased,  the  synod 
became  more  and  more  interested  in  the  foreign  field. 
The  proposed  mission  to  the  American  Indians  came 
to  naught.  But  in  1880  the  synod  undertook  to  sup¬ 
port  the  work  of  the  General  Council  among  the  Telugu 
peoples  in  India.  From  that  date  to  the  present  the 

Augustana  Synod  has  contributed 
Missions  ,  ,  , ,  . 

much,  both  m  men  and  means,  to  this 

field.  In  1899  the  mission  in  Porto  Rico  was  begun  by 
an  Augustana  man  and  it  has  since  then  claimed  mis¬ 
sionaries  from  that  synod,  though  in  1903  the  mission 
was  assumed  by  the  General  Council.  Of  missionary 
character  also  are  the  Immigrant  and  Seamen’s  Mis¬ 
sions  which  date  from  this  period  and  are  controlled 
directly  by  the  synod. 


Since  1895 


The  period  since  1895  has  been  one  of  continued 
growth  and  internal  re-organization.  Congregations 

and  conferences  have  forged  steadily 
ahead.  The  membership  has  once  more 
doubled  itself.  The  congregations  now  number  over 
twelve  hundred  and  the  pastors  over  seven  hundred 
and  fifty. 


INNER  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD  251 


Works 
of  Love 


The  practical  activities  of  the  synod  have  increased 
with  its  numbers  and  strength.  The  delegation  of 
many  of  its  powers  to  the  conferences  served  to  focus 
the  attention  of  the  synod  upon  its  peculiar  tasks. 
While  extending  its  own  home  mission  work  and  help¬ 
ing  the  weaker  conferences  in  theirs,  the  synod  has 
extended  its  activities  in  foreign  mis¬ 
sions.  In  1908  the  China  Mission 
Society  turned  over  the  control  of  its 
mission  to  the  Augustana  Synod  and  that  work  calls 
for  an  annual  budget  of  $100,000.  The  work  in  India 
has  continued,  and  in  1917  a  field  in  Africa  was  added. 
Inner  Mission  work  has  also  been  undertaken  among 
the  Swedes  in  metropolitan  centers.  Meanwhile  the 
Woman’s  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  the 
Luther  League,  and  the  Brotherhood  have  built  up 
strong  and  nation-wide  organizations.  Educational 
institutions  have  flourished  all  over  the  territory  of 
the  synod.  The  rapid  development  of  English  work 
among  the  congregations  has  led  to  the  formation  of 
the  Association  of  English  Churches,  a  body  with 
duties  and  powers  similar  to  those  of  the  conferences. 

While  this  process  of  rapid  growth  was  taking  place 
the  elements  of  internal  re-organization  were  at  work. 
As  early  as  1904  the  Minnesota  Conference  petitioned 
for  the  withdrawal  of  the  synod  from  the  union  with 
the  General  Council.  The  union  grew  no  firmer  with 
the  years.  Language  and  organization, 
rather  than  doctrine  or  practice, 
tended  to  separate  the  two  bodies.  The 
Augustana  Synod  had  itself  assumed  in  large  measure 


Internal 

Reorganization 


252  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


the  character  of  a  general  body.  And  when  in  1917 
the  General  Council  and  the  General  Synod  and  the 
United  Synod  of  the  South  agreed  to  unite  and  form 
the  United  Lutheran  Church  in  America,  the  Augus- 
tana  Synod  was  mindful  of  its  own  peculiar  tasks  and 
problems  and  therefore  declined  to  enter  the  merger. 
The  synod  thereby  became  independent.  Its  willing¬ 
ness  to  combine  with  other  Lutheran  bodies  in  feder¬ 
ated  action  is  seen  in  its  participation  in  the  work  of 
the  National  Lutheran  Commission  and  in  that  of  the 
National  Lutheran  Council.  At  the  same  time  the  ties 
of  relationship  with  the  Church  of  Sweden  have  been 
strengthened  by  the  interchange  of  official  representa¬ 
tives.  And  within  the  synod  itself  strong  centraliz¬ 
ing  movements  have  recently  been  at  work.  These 
have  found  their  final  expression  in  the  constitution  of 
1922. 


In  general  the  Christian  life  within  the  congrega¬ 
tions  is  of  a  simple  and  devout  character.  Since  the 
bitter  Waldenstromian  controversies  in  the  seventies, 

concerning  the  doctrine  of  the  atone- 

Piety  and  ment,  the  synod  has  been  free  from 

Peace 

doctrinal  strife.  The  later  teachers 
and  leaders,  such  as  0.  Olsson,  S.  P.  A.  Lindahl,  P.  J. 
Sward,  Carl  Swensson,  and  others,  still  living,  have 
continued  in  the  spirit  and  in  the  paths  of  the  earlier 
fathers. 

The  Augustana  Synod  has  not  succeeded  in  bring¬ 
ing  into  its  fold  all  of  those  who  have  immigrated  to 
America  from  Sweden.  But  by  the  grace  of  God  it 
has  brought  together  a  quarter  of  a  million  souls  and 


INNER  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD  253 


has  conserved  within  its  borders  the  best  traits  that 
the  immigrants  brought  with  them.  To  a  very  high  de¬ 
gree  it  has  succeeded  in  transplanting  into  American 
life  those  Christian  virtues  that  are  the 
peculiar  fruits  of  four  centuries  of  ^.en^al 
Christianity  in  old  Sweden.  The  lgm 
rapid  growth  and  expansion  of  the  synod,  its  thorough 
development  of  effective  organization,  and  its  high 
spirit  of  enterprise  in  the  practical  tasks  of  Christian 
love,  constitute  a  worthy  parallel  in  the  life  of  the 
Church  to  the  general  spirit  in  the  nation  at  large 
during  this  period. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  WORK  OF  THE  MISSOURI  SYNOD 


The  largest  synodical  unit  of  Lutherans  in  the 
United  States  until  very  recently  was  the  Missouri 
Synod.  This  body  was  organized,  as  we  have 
seen,  in  1847  under  the  dominant  influence  of 
Dr.  Walther  and  the  other  Lutherans  from  Saxony. 
The  synod  grew  very  rapidly  and  before  the  close 
of  the  nineteenth  century  numbered  three  quar¬ 


ters  of  a  million  souls.  Its  chief  energy 
is  directed  to  the  maintenance  of  pure 
Lutheran  doctrine.  The  protracted 


Origin  and 
Growth 


doctrinal  controversies  between  Missouri  and  other 
bodies  of  Lutherans  have  already  been  mentioned.  But 
it  has  always  been  aggressive  also  in  the  work  of  mis¬ 
sions,  both  home  and  foreign.  Its  home  missionary 
zeal,  applied  to  the  large  numbers  of  the  German  immi¬ 
grants  during  the  latter  part  of  the  century,  quickly 
led  to  a  wide  extension  of  the  synodical  borders.  The 
synod  has  spread  into  every  state  of  the  Union  and 
every  part  of  Canada.  At  the  seventy-fifth  anniver¬ 
sary  of  the  synod  in  1922  it  consisted  of  3,809  congre¬ 
gations  and  858  preaching  stations,  with  a  total  of 
more  than  a  million  souls,  served  by  nearly  2,500 
pastors  and  professors  and  more  than  a  thousand 
school  teachers. 

The  synod  is  organized  in  twenty-six  districts,  three 
of  which  are  in  Canada  and  one  in  Brazil.  Each  dis¬ 
trict  meets  annually,  has  its  own  officers,  and  does 


254 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  MISSOURI  SYNOD 


255 


Work  of 
Districts 


Polity 


the  home  mission  work  within  its  own  limits.  Some 
of  the  districts  maintain  their  own 
educational  institutions  and  their  own 
church  papers.  The  districts  with  the 
largest  number  of  mission  stations  are  Minnesota, 
Kansas  and  Texas.  Altogether  the  home  mission 
work  of  the  districts  requires  nearly  half  a  million 
dollars  a  year. 

The  entire  synod  meets  in  national  convention  every 
three  years.  The  polity  of  the  body  is  more  nearly 
congregational  than  that  of  the  other  Lutheran  bodies. 
The  triennial  convention  is  called  the 
“Delegate  Synod,”  because  only  those 
may  vote  who  have  been  elected  and  delegated  by  the 
congregations.  Much  time  is  given  at  these  conven¬ 
tions  to  the  discussion  of  doctrinal  papers,  but  the  edu¬ 
cational  and  missionary  work  of  the  Church  is  also 
considered. 

The  educational  work  of  the  Missouri  Synod  is 
planned  for  the  thorough  preparation  of  an  orthodox 
and  efficient  body  of  pastors  and  teachers.  It  begins 
with  the  parochial  schools  and  culminates  in  the  theo¬ 
logical  seminary.  In  order  to  bring  up  their  children 
in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord  the  Missouri  Lutherans  main¬ 
tain  Christian  day-schools  in  connection  with  their 
congregations.  In  the  earlier  days  the  pastors  them¬ 
selves  did  most  of  the  teaching  in  these  schools,  but 
more  and  more  regular  teachers  are  being  prepared 
and  called  to  this  work.  At  present  five  hundred 
ministers  teach  school  throughout  the  week,  but  there 


Schools 


256  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Colleges 


are  more  than  twice  that  number  of  regularly  called 
teachers  besides  three  hundred  women  teachers.  To 
prepare  these  regular  teachers  two  normal  schools  are 
maintained  by  the  synod.  The  normal  schools  have 
an  enrollment  of  over  five  hundred  men.  At  least  five 
Lutheran  high  schools  have  also  been  established. 

To  prepare  men  for  the  theological  seminary  and 
for  other  professions  than  the  ministry  there  are  eleven 

colleges  located  at  points  convenient 
for  different  sections  of  the  synod’s 
territory.  One  of  these  is  in  Canada  and  one  in  Brazil. 
The  usual  course  requires  six  years.  The  total  en¬ 
rollment  of  the  colleges  is  about  fourteen  hundred. 

The  chief  theological  seminary  is  at  St.  Louis.  It 
has  eight  teachers  and  about  four  hundred  students. 
It  is  the  largest  Protestant  theological  seminary  in 
the  United  States.  This  institution  is  growing  rap¬ 
idly,  and  a  campaign  has  been  launched 
to  secure  a  million  dollars  for  new 
buildings.  The  practical  seminary  at  Springfield, 
Illinois,  has  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  students.  It 
grew  out  of  the  practical  department  of  the  seminary 
at  St.  Louis,  and  it  has  a  two  years’  preliminary  course 
besides  the  three  years  of  theological  work. 

The  synod  has  its  own  printing  establishment,  the 
Concordia  Publishing  House  in  St.  Louis.  This  is 
one  of  the  largest  religious  publishing  houses  in  the 
United  States.  Many  thousands  of  volumes  are  poured 
forth  from  its  presses  each  year.  Its  greatest  under¬ 
taking  was  the  publication  of  a  new  edition  of  Luther’s 
works  in  twenty-five  handsome  volumes.  It  also  pub- 


Seminaries 


s 


FOREIGN 

E.  Unangst,  D.D, 

David  A.  Day,  D.D. 

U.  L.  Uhl,  D.D. 


MISSIONARIES 

Rev.  M.  Officer 
J.  H.  Harpster,  D.D. 
C.  L.  Brown,  D.D. 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  MISSOURI  SYNOD 


257 


Publications 


lishes  the  Church  papers,  hymn  books,  school  books 
and  other  books  needed  for  the  work 
of  the  Church.  Its  profits  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  dollars  it  turns  into  the  synodical 
treasury.  The  best  known  of  the  Missouri  periodicals 
are  the  Lutheraner,  the  Lutheran  Witness,  and  the 
theological  magazines,  Lehre  und  Wehre,  the  Theo¬ 
logical  Quarterly  and  the  Homiletical  Magazine.  These 
are  edited  by  the  theological  faculty  of  the  seminary 
at  St.  Louis. 

The  foreign  missionary  work  of  the  Missouri  Synod 

is  carried  on  in  India  and  China.  It  was  not  begun 

until  1895,  when  the  first  missionary  began  work 

among  the  Tamils  of  East  India. 

There  are  now  seventeen  missionaries,  Foreign 

Missi°ns 

two  teachers,  one  doctor  and  five 
nurses  on  that  field.  In  China  the  work  was  begun 
in  1913.  Hankow  was  chosen  as  the  special  field.  Thir¬ 
teen  missionaries  are  now  engaged  in  the  field,  but 
the  work  is  still  in  its  beginnings. 

The  home  mission  enterprise  receives  much  atten¬ 
tion  from  the  Missouri  Synod  and  its  districts.  The 
founders  of  the  synod  regarded  as  one  of  their  fore¬ 
most  duties  the  task  of  building  up  Zion  in  the  land 
of  their  pilgrimage.  They  bent  their  energies  to  the 
preparation  of  men  who  would  go  out  among  their 
German  brethren  and  gather  them  into 
congregations  pledged  to  thorough¬ 
going  Lutheran  orthodoxy.  The  heroic  sacrifices  and 
ceaseless  toil  of  these  home  missionary  pioneers  ac¬ 
counts  in  large  measure  for  the  rapid  growth  of  the 

17 


Home  Missions 


258  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


synod.  Most  of  the  home  missionary  operations  are 
conducted  by  District  Boards.  There  are  twenty-five 
of  these.  The  General  Home  Mission  Treasury  of  the 
synod  receives  contributions  from  the  congregations  in 
all  the  districts  and  uses  its  funds  to  supplement  the 
work  of  such  districts  as  are  unable  to  support  all  the 
missionaries  they  need.  About  half  of  the  districts 
employ  field  secretaries  to  direct  the  missionary  work 
within  their  respective  borders.  To  aid  in  the  work 
of  home  missions  a  Church  Extension  Fund  of  a  million 
and  a  quarter  dollars  has  been  accumulated.  One- 
third  of  this  is  in  the  hands  of  the  District  Boards. 
During  the  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  Luth¬ 
eran  Reformation  $350,000  was  collected  as  a  jubilee 
offering  for  this  fund. 

The  charitable  activities  of  the  Missouri  Synod  are 
many  and  varied.  The  General  Board  of  Support  cares 
for  invalid  ministers,  professors  and  teachers,  and 
their  widows  and  orphans.  The  Lutheran  Laymen’s 
League  has  undertaken  to  endow  this  Board  with  a 
fund  of  three  million  dollars,  and  already  more  than 

two  and  a  half  millions  is  in  hand. 
Chanties  During  1920  four  hundred  needy  stu¬ 

dents  were  supported  at  Missouri’s  educational  institu¬ 
tions  at  an  outlay  of  $65,000.  Missouri  congregations 
contributed  more  than  a  million  and  a  quarter  dollars 
to  the  Red  Cross  during  the  World  War,  and  more 
than  $300,000  to  European  relief  since  the  war.  Other 
institutions  of  mercy  within  the  Missouri  Synod  in¬ 
clude  14  hospitals,  9  orphanages,  5  hospices,  13  home¬ 
finding  societies,  3  institutions  for  deaf  mutes,  and  8 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  MISSOURI  SYNOD 


259 


Exclusiveness 


homes  for  the  aged.  The  estimated  value  of  the  vari¬ 
ous  charitable  institutions  is  given  at  three  and  a  half 
millions.  Their  annual  expenses  are  more  than  a 
million. 

The  practical  benevolences  of  the  Missouri  Synod,  it 
will  be  observed,  are  not  strongly  centralized.  The 
followers  of  Walther  have  always  been  strictly  averse 
to  any  policy  that  might  be  interpreted  as  hierarchical 
or  that  might  become  such.  They  have  been  consistent 
in  drawing  the  practical  implications 
of  their  doctrine  of  the  Church  and  the 
ministry.  And  they  have  refused  to  have  any  relations 
of  Christian  fellowship  with  Lutherans  who  do  not 
interpret  the  confessions  exactly  as  they  do.  But  this 
distinct  aversion  to  a  strong  central  authority  and 
this  rigid  attitude  on  the  question  of  church  fellowship 
has  not  prevented  the  Missouri  Lutherans  from  enter¬ 
ing  a  larger  conference  of  conservative  Lutherans. 

In  1872  after  the  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio  had  declined 
to  join  the  General  Council  and  the  Synods  of  Wis¬ 
consin,  Minnesota  and  Illinois,  had  withdrawn  from 
the  General  Council,  these  synods  all  united  with  the 
Missouri  Synod  in  forming  the  Synodical  Conference. 
The  main  object  of  the  new  organiza¬ 
tion  was  to  co-operate  in  educational  Conference 
work,  but  very  little  has  been  at¬ 
tempted  in  a  practical  way.  The  larger  body  is  merely 
advisory,  as  its  name  suggests.  It  meets  every  two 
years.  It  is  chiefly  concerned  with  questions  of  doc¬ 
trine.  Ten  years  after  the  Synodical  Conference  was 
organized  the  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio  withdrew.  Later 


260  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


the  Illinois  Synod  was  merged  with  the  Missouri 
Synod,  and  the  Minnesota  Synod  was  federated  with 
the  Wisconsin  Synod.  The  Missouri  Synod  constitutes 
more  than  three-fourths  of  the  entire  Synodical  Con¬ 
ference.  Next  to  the  Missouri  Synod  the  largest  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  Conference  is  the  Wisconsin  Synod  with 
about  260,000  souls.  Other  members  are  the  Slovak 
Synod  of  Pennsylvania  (13,000),  and  the  Norwegian 
Synod  of  the  Lutheran  Church  (6,500). 

The  chief  practical  work  that  is  being  done  by  the 
Synodical  Conference  is  a  flourishing  mission  among 
the  colored  people  of  the  United  States.  The  Board 
of  Colored  Missions  has  fifty-six  organized  congrega¬ 
tions  under  its  care  and  expends  more  than  $100,000 

annually.  The  work  is  carried  on  in 
Work  Among  m0st  of  the  southern  states  and  has 
Negroes  recently  been  extended  to  the  leading 

cities  in  the  north.  Colored  laborers  work  side  by 
side  with  the  white  missionaries,  and  two  schools  are 
engaged  in  preparing  men  for  this  work,  Immanuel 
College  at  Greensboro,  North  Carolina,  and  Martin 
Luther  College  at  New  Orleans. 

From  these  facts  and  figures  it  is  evident  that  the 
spirit  of  enterprise  is  rapidly  invading  this  large  and 

conservative  body  of  Lutherans.  The 
Spirit  of  entire  membership  of  the  Missouri 

Synod  is  stoutly  loyal  to  the  prin¬ 
ciples  of  the  body.  The  laymen  have  begun  to  enlist 
in  the  active  work  of  the  Church.  New  methods  of 
work  are  being  constantly  devised.  Larger  resources 
are  being  placed  at  the  service  of  the  general  Church. 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  MISSOURI  SYNOD 


261 


Modern  methods  of  publicity  and  business  administra¬ 
tion  are  coming  to  be  applied.  And  this  new  spirit 
of  enterprise  among  the  Missourians,  together  with 
their  rapid  growth  in  numbers  and  expansion  in  terri¬ 
tory,  their  contagious  enthusiasm  for  purity  of  doc¬ 
trine,  their  constant  emphasis  on  thorough  educational 
methods,  and  their  relatively  large  supply  of  minis¬ 
terial  candidates,  make  this  branch  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  our  country  one  of  the  most  vigorous  ele¬ 
ments  in  American  Christianity. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  LITURGICAL  DEVELOPMENT 

Another  evidence  of  the  new  spirit  that  took  pos¬ 
session  of  the  Church  in  the  days  of  big  business  is 
seen  among  the  older  general  bodies  in  the  sphere  of 
public  worship.  Hitherto  there  had  been  no  degree  of 
uniformity  in  liturgical  use  among  Lutherans  and  in¬ 
dividualism  had  run  riot  in  the  devotions  of  the 
Of  the  many  liturgies  in  use  in  various 
parts  of  the  .Church  not  one  was  a 
faithful  expression  of  the  Lutheran 
spirit  or  the  rich  liturgical  heritage 
of  the  Church.  But  in  this  period  the 
subject  of  worship  and  its  form  awakened  special  in¬ 
terest  in  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America.  The  Luth¬ 
eran  Church  had  become  conscious  of  her  power,  not 
only  the  power  of  her  numbers  and  the  power  of  her 
piety  and  the  power  of  her  confessions,  but  also  the 
power  of  her  worship.  It  was  still  recognized  that 
uniformity  in  worship  is  not  necessary  to  the  true 
unity  of  the  Church,  but  at  the  same  time  Lutherans, 
like  other  Churches  of  that  day,  began  to  realize  that 
such  uniformity  is  not  unimportant.  So  the  demand 
arose  for  more  uniformity  and  for  forms  of  worship 
that  would  more  completely  express  the  power  of  the 
Lutheran  heritage  in  that  sphere. 

The  result  was  a  liturgical  movement  that  included 
practically  all  the  English-speaking  Lutherans  in  this 
country  and  a  very  large  portion  of  the  German-speak- 

262 


sanctuary. 

Demand  for 

Greater 

Uniformity 


THE  LITURGICAL  DEVELOPMENT 


263 


ing  Lutherans.  It  was  a  large  undertaking  and 
paralleled  the  great  ventures  of  capital  and  other  in¬ 
terests  in  the  sphere  of  politics  and  in¬ 
dustry  at  that  time.  It  called  for  A  Large . 

«  ,  ,  ,  .  ,  ~  Undertaking 

profound  research  and  wisdom,  for  co¬ 
operation  and  forbearance,  but  it  resulted  in  a  common 
order  of  worship  and  a  common  hymnology  that  has 
met  the  devotional  wants  of  most  of  the  Lutherans  in 
America.  It  was  the  first  item  of  official  co-operation 
among  the  three  divisions  of  the  Muhlenberg  develop¬ 
ment.  It  was  characteristic  of  the  spirit  of  the  Luth¬ 
eran  Church  in  this  period,  for  it  was  not  only  in  itself 
a  large  undertaking  successfully  carried  through,  but 
it  was  the  forerunner  of  a  period  of  larger  unity  and 
harmony  and  co-operation  in  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
America. 

Until  a  year  or  two  before  1870  there  was  not  a 
single  Lutheran  liturgy  that  in  character,  form  and 
completeness  was  worthy  either  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  or  her  people.  For  more  than  a  century  in¬ 
dividual  synods  and  the  General  Synod  had  been 
laboring  with  the  problem.  Already  in 
1748  when  Muhlenberg  organized  the 
Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania,  the 
adoption  of  a  liturgy  was  one  of  the  principal  topics 
that  occupied  the  attention  of  the  first  meeting  of  that 
body.  The  liturgy  that  was  then  adopted  had  been 
prepared  by  Muhlenberg,  Brunnholtz  and  Handschuh. 
It  was  based  on  the  liturgies  that  were  used  in  those 
parts  of  Germany  where  Muhlenberg  had  lived.  Au¬ 
thorities  on  the  subject  have  pronounced  that  liturgy 


264  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


of  1748  the  noblest  and  purest  Lutheran  service  that 
the  Church  in  America  possessed  until  the  period  we 
are  now  reviewing. 

But  the  liturgy  adopted  by  the  Ministerium  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania  in  1748  was  never  printed.  It  was  copied 
by  the  pastors  and  introduced  into  their  congregations. 
It  came  to  be  materially  altered,  and  after  an  official 
revision  was  first  published  by  order  of  the  Minis¬ 


terium  in  1786.  This  revision  was  a 
decided  injury  to  the  pure  Lutheran 
type  of  the  older  service.  It  showed 


Liturgy 
of  1786 


that  the  liturgical  taste  of  the  leaders  in  the  Church 
was  suffering  a  decline.  It  was  translated  into  English 
by  Dr.  Kunze  and  was  published  with  a  collection  of 
English  hymns  in  1795  as  part  of  Dr.  Kunze’s  effort 
to  prevent  the  defection  of  the  English-speaking  youth 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  to  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Then  came  the  period  of  unionism  and  rationalism, 
when  Reformed  and  rationalistic  influences  made 
themselves  felt  in  the  Lutheran  forms  of  worship.  A 
number  of  independent  efforts  were  made  to  devise  a 
liturgy  that  would  receive  general  acceptance.  In  1817 


the  New  York  Synod  published  its  lit¬ 
urgy  in  connection  with  a  collection  of 
hymns  and  prayers.  This  was  mainly 


New  York 
Liturgy  of  1817 


the  work  of  Dr.  Quitman  and  shows  throughout  the 
marks  of  his  rationalistic  hand.  The  following  year 
the  Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania  issued  a  revised 
liturgy  which  shows  on  every  page  the  effects  of  the 
relaxed  doctrinal  position  of  that  body.  The  respon¬ 
sive  character  of  the  service  is  almost  entirely  lost. 


THE  LITURGICAL  DEVELOPMENT 


265 


The  observance  of  the  Church  Year  is  not  adhered  to. 
It  seems  probable  that  the  Pennsylvania  liturgy  was 
strongly  influenced  by  that  of  New  York. 

During  the  next  period  when  the  Ministerium  of 
Pennsylvania  recovered  its  Lutheran  consciousness, 
the  liturgy  of  1818  proved  very  unsatisfactory  and  a 
complete  revision  was  ordered.  The  new  liturgy  was 
largely  the  work  of  Dr.  Demme.  It  appeared  in  1842 
and  at  first  received  generous  approval  from  various 
synodical  bodies.  The  General  Synod  published  an 
English  translation  of  it  in  1847.  But  it  was  not  much 
better  than  the  form  of  1818.  It  did  not  satisfy  men 
of  correct  liturgical  tastes  and  it  was 

soon  found  that  it  did  not  supply  the  Llturgies  of 

1842  and  1855 

want  of  the  Church.  Another  effort 
was  made  in  the  liturgy  of  1855,  published  in  English 
five  years  later.  This  was  a  distinct  reaction  against 
the  low  uses  of  the  previous  period  and  a  decided  im¬ 
provement  over  its  immediate  predecessors.  It  restored 
the  responses  and  contained  many  primitive  orders. 
It  was  Scripturally  pure  and  contained  all  the  essential 
features  of  a  true  Lutheran  service.  But  it  con¬ 
tained  a  great  deal  of  superfluous  matter  and 
the  order  of  its  parts  did  not  accord  with  good 
liturgical  construction.  The  English  translation  of 
1860  made  many  changes  in  the  original  and  showed 
that  the  leaven  of  a  purer  liturgical  principle  was  at 
work.  It  prepared  the  way  for  the 
Church  Book  of  1868,  published  by  the  The  Church 

Bookj  1808 

Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania  and  sub¬ 
sequently  adopted  by  the  entire  General  Council.  This 


266  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


book  was  largely  a  monument  to  the  learning  and  taste 
of  Dr.  B.  M.  Schmucker.  It  was  based  on  a  thorough 
scientific  study  of  liturgical  and  hymnological  sources. 
It  wrought  a  great  change  in  the  worship  of  the 
Church  as  a  whole  in  this  country. 

Meanwhile  the  General  Synod  had  made  a  number 
of  efforts  to  devise  a  liturgy  that  would  satisfy  the 
needs  of  its  congregations  and  thus  introduce  some 
degree  of  uniformity  into  their  worship.  This  was 
one  of  the  purposes  of  the  founding  of  a  General  Synod. 

The  “Proposed  Plan  of  Union”  adopted 
Early  Efforts  jn  1819  specified  that  the  “General 
Synod  Synod  has  the  exclusive  right  with 

the  concurrence  of  a  majority  of  the 
particular  synods  to  introduce  new  books  for  general 
use  in  the  public  church  service  as  well  as  to  make 
improvements  in  the  Liturgy,”  and  the  constitution 
provided  for  the  accomplishment  of  that  work,  though 
it  specifically  disclaimed  “the  power  of  'prescribing 
uniform  ceremonies  of  religion.”  But  in  the  weakness 
of  its  earlier  years  the  General  Synod  accomplished 
little  along  the  line  of  liturgy  except  the  appointment 
of  a  committee  on  the  subject.  Twelve  years  passed 
before  the  first  liturgy  of  the  General  Synod  appeared. 

The  liturgy  of  1832  was  the  work  of  Dr.  G.  A.  Lint- 

ner  of  the  Hartwick  Synod,  The  original  committee 

had  been  instructed  to  “adhere  particu- 

Liturgy  larly  to  the  New  York  Hymn  Book 

of  1832 

and  the  German  Liturgy  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania  as  their  guides.”  This  instruction  was 
partly  followed.  Eleven  of  the  twelve  sections  in  the 


THE  LITURGICAL  DEVELOPMENT 


267 


new  liturgy  are  forms  for  ministerial  acts.  The  other 
section,  dealing  with  public  worship,  provides  only  a 
form  of  confession  and  prayer  to  be  used  at  the  open¬ 
ing,  two  forms  for  general  prayers,  and  one  for  a 
benediction.  The  congregation  is  allowed  no  active 
part  in  worship  except  the  singing  of  hymns. 

At  its  next  meeting  the  General  Synod  appointed  a 
new  committee  on  the  subject  with  instructions  to 
amend  and  enlarge  the  liturgy  of  1832.  In  the  hope 
of  securing  a  degree  of  uniformity  throughout  the 
Church  the  committee  watched  the  liturgical  changes 
of  the  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
Synods.  The  guiding  principle  for  the  ^urgy 
General  Synod  was  expressed  in  a 
resolution,  “That  uniformity  in  public  worship  among 
us  can  only  be  secured  by  providing  for  the  use  of  the 
Church  a  Liturgy  that  by  its  superior  merits  shall  re¬ 
ceive  the  sanction  of  the  Church  at  large.”  But  the 
General  Synod  did  not  publish  another  liturgy  until 
1847.  This  was  a  translation,  with  only  a  few  changes, 
of  the  German  liturgy  that  had  been  prepared  by  a 
joint  committee  of  the  New  York  Ministerium,  the 
Pennsylvania  Ministerium,  and  the  Ohio  Synod.  Very 
high  claims  were  made  for  this  new  liturgy,  especially 
for  its  Scriptural  and  historical  character.  It  was  an 
improvement  over  that  of  1832  and  showed  that  the 
liturgical  taste  of  the  English-speaking  part  of  the 
Church  was  also  improving.  The  preface  contained 
many  excellent  suggestions  as  to  the  value  and  the 
advantages  of  a  liturgy.  But  it  was  no  responsive 
liturgy  at  all.  The  people  still  stood  silent  before  the 


268  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


minister  except  in  the  hymns.  It  did  not  commend 
itself  to  the  Church  at  large. 

Almost  immediately  the  General  Synod  appointed  a 
committee  to  receive  suggestions  for  the  improvement 
of  its  liturgy.  Many  suggestions  were  made.  The 
committee  tried  to  make  the  changes  and  improve¬ 
ments  that  would  meet  the  wishes  expressed  in  various 


quarters  of  the  Church,  but  finally 
gave  up  in  despair  because  of  the  great 
diversity  of  taste  and  the  many  irre- 


Liturgy 
of  1856 


concilable  differences  of  view.  But  the  General  Synod 
refused  to  leave  the  matter  to  the  district  synods  be¬ 
cause,  as  one  writer  put  it,  “the  conviction  is  extending 
itself  more  and  more  that  our  Church  is  liturgical, 
that  such  forms  ought  to  constitute  a  part  of  our  public 
worship,  and  that  there  should  be  uniformity  in  their 
use.”  So  the  committee  was  continued  and  in  1855 
enlarged  to  embrace  one  member  from  each  of  the 
district  synods,  including  the  Pennsylvania  Ministe- 
rium  which  had  now  joined  the  General  Synod.  The 
“pocket  edition”  of  the  liturgy  was  published  in  1856 
and  differed  from  that  of  1847  by  including  the  Lord’s 
Prayer  and  the  Apostles’  Creed.  The  liturgical  in¬ 
fluence  of  Dr.  B.  M.  Schmucker  now  began  to  be  felt 
in  the  General  Synod. 

But  after  the  break  in  1864  at  York  liturgical  mat¬ 
ters  in  the  General  Synod  were  in  a  rather  chaotic  con¬ 
dition  for  several  years.  In  1866  Dr.  S.  S.  Schmucker, 
as  head  of  the  Committee  on  Liturgy,  submitted  a 
Provisional  Liturgy  that  represented  a  great  advance 
over  previous  liturgies  in  the  General  Synod.  But  it 


THE  LITURGICAL  DEVELOPMENT 


269 


was  never  adopted.  Two  years  later  a  new  committee 
was  appointed  and  the  number  of  members  reduced 
to  three.  The  most  active  member  on  this  committee 
was  Dr.  J.  G.  Butler  of  Washington. 

The  committee  submitted  a  new  liturgy  The 

to  the  General  Synod  in  Washington,  service^ St°n 
1869.  This  liturgy  was  adopted  with 
enthusiasm  and  was  known  as  the  “Washington  Ser¬ 
vice.”  It  depended  largely  on  Dr.  Schmucker’s  “Provi¬ 
sional  Liturgy,”  but  added  the  Gloria  Patri  after  the 
opening  sentences,  the  Kyrie  after  the  Confession  of  sin 
and  prayer,  and  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis  after  the  Apos¬ 
tles’  Creed.  It  was  the  nearest  approach  to  a  historical 
order  of  service  yet  made  by  the  General  Synod.  But 
it  was  only  the  beginning.  Its  preparation  and  adop¬ 
tion  were  the  harbinger  of  a  yet  brighter  day. 

The  Church  Book  of  1868  prepared  by  the  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  Ministerium  and  adopted  by  the  General  Council, 
and  the  Washington  Service  of  1869,  prepared  and 
adopted  by  the  General  Synod,  marked  the  highest  tide 
of  liturgical  attainment  up  to  that  time.  But  they 
were  only  preparatory  to  a  much  larger  undertaking. 
Neither  of  them  was  entirely  satisfy¬ 
ing  to  its  constituents,  and  above  all,  Vanety  of 
■  I  j  i  .  n  Usa&e  Persists 

the  deep  longing  for  uniformity  of 

worship  among  Lutherans  remained  unfulfilled.  It 
was  very  clear  that  the  liturgical  problem  of  the  Luth¬ 
eran  Church  in  America  had  not  reached  its  final  solu¬ 
tion.  One  effort  after  another  had  been  made  but 
the  liturgical  taste  of  the  Church  as  a  whole  remained 
unsatisfied.  Not  less  than  forty  different  liturgies  had 


270  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


been  prepared  and  introduced  in  various  quarters  of 
the  Church  in  less  than  a  century.  It  was  a  distinct 
misfortune  to  the  Church  that  she  had  so  many  litur¬ 
gies.  No  one  of  them  had  become  venerable  in  use. 
The  cord  was  always  broken,  and  there  was  no  form 
of  service  through  which  the  Church  of  today  could 
express  its  communion  with  the  Lord’s  saints  in  all 
ages  past.  There  was  the  widest  variety  of  liturgical 
taste  and  accordingly  great  diversity  of  practice. 

But  the  inconveniences,  disadvantages,  and  losses 
resulting  from  this  abnormal  state  of  things  became 
so  manifest  in  the  days  of  big  business  that  the  desire 
was  felt  in  all  parts  of  the  Church  that  a  greater  degree 
of  uniformity  in  worship  might  prevail  among  the 
Lutherans  in  America.  Men  began  to  remind  themselves 

of  the  wish  expressed  by  the  Patriarch 
Muhlenberg  near  the  end  of  his  life 
that  “all  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Congregations  in  the  North  American  States  were 
united  with  one  another,  that  all  used  the  same  order 
of  service,  the  same  hymn-book,  and  in  good  and  evil 
days  would  show  an  active  sympathy  and  fraternally 
correspond  with  one  another.”  The  many  liturgical 
efforts  that  had  been  made  by  synods  and  by  indi¬ 
viduals  since  Muhlenberg’s  time  had  been  an  educa¬ 
tional  process  for  the  Church.  Liturgical  scholars  had 
been  developed  and  sound  liturgical  tastes  had  been 
cultivated.  It  had  become  clear  that  a  liturgy  to  find 
general  acceptance  in  the  Lutheran  Church,  must  con¬ 
serve  the  liturgical  treasures  of  the  past  and  at  the 
same  time  adapt  them  to  the  devotional  needs  of  the 


Ready  for 
Common  Action 


THE  LITURGICAL  DEVELOPMENT 


271 


present.  The  spirit  of  the  Church  and  the  tone  of  her 
scholarship  were  now  such  that  the  times  were  ripe 
for  a  great  forward  movement  in  the  preparation  of 
a  common  order  of  service,  a  common  hymn-book,  and 
a  common  order  of  ministerial  acts. 

Quite  appropriately  the  initiative  to  the  preparation 

of  a  common  service  came  from  the  United  Synod  in 

the  South.  For  the  United  Synod,  in  confessional 

position  and  liturgical  practice,  stood  about  mid-way 

between  the  General  Synod  and  the  General  Council. 

By  a  resolution  in  1876  the  United  Synod  invited  the 

General  Synod  and  the  General  Council 

to  co-operate  in  preparing  “one  com-  A  Common 

Service 

mon  service  for  all  English-speaking  projecte(i 
Lutherans  in  the  United  States.”  The 
General  Council  resolved  to  co-operate,  “provided  the 
rule  which  shall  decide  all  questions  in  its  preparation 
shall  be:  The  common  consent  of  the  pure  Lutheran 
liturgies  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  when  there  is 
not  an  entire  agreement  among  them,  the  consent  of 
the  largest  number  of  those  of  greatest  weight.”  The 
General  Synod  was  busy  trying  to  secure  a  revision  of 
the  “Washington  Service”  that  would  satisfy  its  con¬ 
gregations,  but  in  1883  received  a  petition  from  fifty- 
five  of  its  pastors  asking  for  an  entirely  new  order  of 
service  “more  in  harmony  with  historic  Lutheran 
books  of  worship  and  enunciating  more  clearly  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church.”  So  that  year  the  General 
Synod  decided  with  enthusiasm  to  co-operate  in  the 
work  on  a  common  service  and  expressed  its  agreement 
with  the  condition  set  forth  by  the  General  Council. 


272  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


The  three  committees  appointed  by  the  general 
bodies  organized  as  a  joint  committee  in  1885,  adopted 
several  preliminary  principles,  and  set  to  work  upon 
their  delicate  task.  The  committee  understood  that 
its  work  was  not  to  collect  the  private  preferences  of 


the  members  of  the  committee  nor  to 
devise  anything  new,  but  to  “place  on 
record  the  undisputed  facts  as  to  what 


The  Committee 
at  Work 


constitutes  a  Lutheran  Order  of  Service.”  It  was 
agreed  that  no  part  of  the  proposed  service  should  be 
used  any  longer  than  it  should  serve  to  edification,  and 
that  no  service  could  be  made  binding  on  any  con¬ 
gregation.  The  committee  worked  under  the  rule,  “the 
common  consent  of  the  pure  Lutheran  liturgies  of  the 
sixteenth  century.” 

The  Common  Service  was  completed  and  published 
in  1888.  The  result  had  been  reached  “not  without  a 
painful  sacrifice  of  personal  views  and  prejudices  on 
the  part  of  every  member  of  the  joint  committee.”  It 
was  adopted  by  all  three  of  the  general  bodies  at  once. 
The  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio  and  the  English  Synod  of 


Missouri  afterwards  adopted  it.  It 
represented  a  heroic  attempt  to  demon¬ 
strate  the  essential  unity  of  the  Luth¬ 
eran  Church  in  America.  No  other 


The  Common 

Service 

Adopted 


Lutheran  order  of  service  ever  had  such  wide  accept¬ 
ance.  It  was  an  undertaking  worthy  of  the  times  in 
which  it  appeared.  It  was  the  high-tide  of  liturgical 
achievement  in  the  Lutheran  Church.  It  was  not  an 
invention.  It  was  the  “Common  Service  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Church  of  all  ages.”  It  was  the  fruit  of  a  his- 


THE  LITURGICAL  DEVELOPMENT 


273 


topical  growth,  whose  roots  go  back  to  the  earliest  ages 
of  the  Christian  Church,  whose  essential  parts  were 
universally  recognized  by  the  Reformers,  and  whose 
development  through  the  Christian  centuries  was  pos¬ 
sible  only  because  it  satisfied  the  devotional  wants  of 
the  Christian  heart  and  the  worshiping  congregation. 
It  gave  evidence  of  fervent  love  for  the  old  faith  and 
placed  the  Church  of  our  day  in  communion  with  the 
devout  assemblies  of  ancient  days,  enabling  her  to  join 
her  praises  with  the  angelic  hosts,  and  chant  her  hymns 
in  the  courts  of  glory. 

The  rule  adopted  by  the  three  general  bodies  to 
govern  the  work  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  liturgy 
brought  it  about  that  the  Common  Service  resembled 
the  form  used  by  the  General  Council  in  its  Church 
Book  of  1868.  For  that  reason  it  encountered  some 
opposition  in  the  General  Synod.  Efforts  were  made 
to  modify  the  action  adopting  the 

Common  Service.  It  was  charged  that  Controversy  in 

i  -i  i  tit  i  the  General 

unwarranted  changes  had  been  made  synoc^ 

in  the  preliminary  draft  which  the 
General  Synod  had  adopted  so  spontaneously  in  1885. 
The  respective  merits  of  the  “Washington  Service”  and 
the  “Common  Service”  were  the  subject  of  heated  dis¬ 
cussions.  It  was  decided  to  publish  them  both  in  the 
General  Synod  Hymnal.  A  sharp  controversy  ensued 
within  the  General  Synod,  a  controversy  that  was 
prolonged  by  personal  and  confessional  issues.  An 
“Abridged  Common  Service”  was  published  separately 
in  1895.  But  the  General  Synod  never  changed  its 
original  action  on  the  Common  Service.  The  contro¬ 
ls 


274  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


versy  only  served  to  deepen  appreciation  of  liturgical 
principles  and  the  Common  Service  increased  in  popu¬ 
larity  until  the  “Washington  Service”  became  the 
exception. 

Meanwhile  the  Joint  Committee  had  prepared  a 
standard  English  translation  of  Luther’s  Catechism 
and  had  been  authorized  to  prepare  a  common  book 
of  ministerial  acts  and  a  common  book  of  hymns.  The 
Hymnal  was  ready  in  1915  and  appeared  from  the 
press  in  October,  1917.  It  was  embodied  in  the  “Com¬ 
mon  Service  Book  and  Hymnal.”  In  this  new  book 


the  rubrics  of  the  Common  Service 
were  greatly  simplified.  The  musical 
settings  for  all  the  parts  of  the  Ser¬ 
vice  were  improved  and  of  course 


A  Common 
Service  Book 
and  Hymnal 


standardized  for  all  three  of  the  bodies.  The  collection 
of  hymns  differs  from  preceding  hymnals  in  that  it 
was  prepared  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  liturgy 
and  with  the  evangelical  principle  of  the  Church  Year. 
In  the  chaste  and  appropriate  selection  of  hymns,  in 
the  high  standard  of  literary  merit,  and  in  the  adap¬ 
tation  of  the  music  to  the  text,  the  common  hymnal 
represents  the  highest  achievement  of  Lutheran  devo¬ 
tion  and  scholarship.  It  has  received  unstinted  com¬ 
mendation  from  competent  critics  even  outside  the 
Lutheran  Church. 

The  liturgical  development  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
in  this  period,  we  have  seen,  kept  pace  with  the  prog¬ 
ress  in  numbers  and  benevolence.  It  is  a  worthy 
parallel  to  the  spirit  of  large  undertaking  that  moved 
in  the  general  life  of  the  times.  It  was  the  happy  cul- 


THE  LITURGICAL  DEVELOPMENT 


275 


mination  of  a  process  extending  over  more  than  a  cen¬ 
tury  and  a  half.  It  satisfied  the  long- 
Sigmficance  of  ing  for  closer  approach  among  the 

Liturgical  Lutherans  of  America  to  common 

Progress 

standards  in  devotional  life  and 
usages,  and  it  bore  unmistakable  witness  to  the  essen¬ 
tial  strength  and  spiritual  oneness  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  this  country. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
CONFESSIONAL  CONSERVATION 


Less  tangible  but  none  the  less  real  and  important 
than  the  development  along  the  lines  of  benevolence 
and  liturgy  during  this  period  was  the  progress  of  the 
Church  along  doctrinal  lines.  It  was  a  necessary  pre¬ 
liminary  to  the  period  of  larger  harmony  and  union 
that  was  to  follow. 

The  General  Synod  advanced  to  a  much  clearer  defi¬ 
nition  of  its  doctrinal  basis.  We  have  seen  that  when 
the  General  Synod  was  organized  in  1820,  out  of  con¬ 
sideration  for  the  New  York  Ministerium  and  the 
Pennsylvania  Ministerium,  the  constitution  made  no 
mention  whatever  of  the  Augsburg  Confession.  But 

when  the  General  Synod  was  about  to 
General  Synod  found  its  theological  seminary  in  1825 

the  professor  was  pledged  to  the  Augs¬ 
burg  Confession  and  Luther’s  Cate¬ 
chisms  as  “a  summary  and  correct  exhibition  of  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  God’s  Word.”  And  the 
model  constitution  recommended  to  the  district  synods 
in  1829  required  the  candidates  for  ordination  to 
declare  their  belief  “that  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  the  Word  of  God  are  taught  in  a  manner  substantially 
correct  in  the  doctrinal  articles  of  the  Augsburg  Con¬ 
fession.”  This  indefinite  statement  led  to  confusion 
and  difficulties.  So  the  General  Synod  in  1864  passed 
a  resolution  declaring  that  all  of  the  doctrines  taught 
in  the  Augsburg  Confession  are  fundamental  doctrines 

276 


Progress 
to  1866 


CONFESSIONAL  CONSERVATION 


277 


of  God’s  Word  and  that  the  manner  in  which  they  are 
taught  in  the  Augsburg  Confession  is  entirely  correct. 
At  the  same  time  a  proposed  amendment  to  the  consti¬ 
tution  of  the  General  Synod  was  submitted  to  the  dis¬ 
trict  synods.  This  amendment  changed  the  doctrinal 
basis  of  the  body  to  make  it  receive  “The  Word  of  God 
as  contained  in  the  canonical  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  as  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith 
and  practice,  and  the  Augsburg  Confession  as  a  correct 
exhibition  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Divine 
Word  and  of  the  faith  of  our  Church  founded  upon 
that  Word.”  This  was  ratified  by  the  district  synods 
and  embodied  in  the  constitution  in  1866,  and  there 
the  matter  stood  when  the  new  period  of  history  began. 

The  conservative  party  in  the  General  Synod  soon 
felt  the  need  for  a  clearer  definition  of  confessional 
basis.  There  were  still  some  who  interpreted  the 
amendment  of  1866  to  mean  that  some  of  the  subjects 
treated  in  the  Augsburg  Confession  are  not  funda¬ 
mental  truths  of  the  Bible  and  that  on  these  points 
the  Confession  was  not  binding.  Now 
the  conservative  party  was  in  a  clear  Conservatism 

majority  but  the  bitterness  caused  by  s^ntd  General 
the  founding  of  the  General  Council 
produced  strained  relations  between  the  parties  in  the 
General  Synod  and  impeded  the  development  of  the 
conservative  element.  The  controversy  over  the  Com¬ 
mon  Service  also  helped  to  prevent  an  impartial  con¬ 
sideration  of  the  confessional  question.  But  the  con¬ 
servatives  gained  steadily  in  influence.  The  annual 
preparation  and  publication  of  the  Holman  lecture  on 


278  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


the  Augsburg  Confession  at  the  Gettysburg  Seminary 
led  to  a  better  understanding  of  that  instrument.  The 
publication  of  the  English  translation  of  Schmid’s 
“Dogmatics”  enabled  the  pastors  to  determine  for 
themselves  what  are  the  doctrines  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.  The  growing  conservatism  of  her  theological 
schools,  the  various  influences  coming  from  other  Luth¬ 
eran  bodies,  and  a  number  of  other  factors  contributed 
to  the  conservation  of  the  faith  in  General  Synod 
circles. 

By  1895  the  smoke  of  battle  had  cleared  away  suf¬ 
ficiently  to  permit  the  passing  of  a  resolution  that 
“This  convention  of  the  General  Synod  expresses  its 
entire  satisfaction  with  the  present  form  of  doctrinal 
basis  and  confessional  subscription,  which  is  the  Word 
of  God,  as  the  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  and 
the  Unaltered  Augsburg  Confession  as  throughout  in 
perfect  consistence  with  it — nothing  more,  nothing 
less.”  This  committed  the  General  Synod  definitely  to 

the  entire  Augsburg  Confession.  And 

Resolutions  of  here  for  the  first  time  the  Unaltered 
1895  and  1901 

Augsburg  Confession  was  mentioned. 
This  is  the  term  that  was  used  by  all  other  Lutheran 
bodies  to  specify  the  first  edition  of  the  Confession 
in  contrast  to  later  editions  which  were  changed  in 
important  parts.  It  was  the  first  edition  that  all  par¬ 
ties  had  always  had  in  mind,  but  now  it  was  clearly 
specified.  Another  effort  at  clearer  definition  was 
made  in  a  resolution  of  1901 :  “We  hold  that  to  make 
any  distinction  between  fundamental  and  so-called  non¬ 
fundamental  doctrines  in  the  Augsburg  Confession  is 


CONFESSIONAL  CONSERVATION 


279 


contrary  to  the  basis  of  the  General  Synod  as  set  forth 
in  our  formula  of  confessional  subscription.” 

But  in  spite  of  these  resolutions  the  General  Council 
and  other  Lutheran  bodies  persisted  in  questioning 
the  sound  Lutheranism  of  the  General  Synod.  These 
criticisms  were  based  on  the  fact  that  the  resolutions 
of  1895  and  1901  were  not  incorporated  in  the  constitu¬ 
tion,  that  no  mention  was  made  of  the  other  confes¬ 
sional  writings  of  the  Lutheran  Church  besides  the 
Augsburg  Confession,  and  that  the 

constitutional  amendment  of  1866  Statements 

of  1909 

spoke  of  “the  Word  of  God  as  con¬ 
tained  in  the  Canonical  Scriptures,”  the  very  expres¬ 
sion  used  by  negative  critics  to  discredit  large  portions 
of  the  Bible.  To  silence  these  criticisms  and  repudiate 
the  charges  growing  out  of  them  the  General  Synod  in 
1909  adopted  a  long  series  of  statements  repeating 
and  explaining  the  previous  declarations,  maintaining 
its  adherence  to  the  proposition  that  “the  Bible  is  the 
Word  of  God,”  disavowing  any  real  change  in  its  con¬ 
fessional  basis  since  1866,  but  adding  its  appreciation 
of  the  other  Lutheran  Confessions  “as  a  most  valuable 
body  of  Lutheran  belief,  explaining  and  unfolding  the 
doctrines  of  the  Augsburg  Confession.” 

Then,  in  order  further  to  clarify  the  confessional 
atmosphere,  another  important  step  was  taken.  The 
General  Synod’s  Committee  on  Common  Service  was 
charged  with  the  duty  of  gathering  these  various  doc¬ 
trinal  statements  into  concise  form  and  preparing  them 
to  be  embodied  in  the  constitution  of  the  General 
Synod  as  a  restatement  of  its  doctrinal  position.  This 


280  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


was  done.  Two  new  articles  were  inserted  in  the  con¬ 
stitution.  The  article  “on  doctrinal  basis”  said  that  the 
General  Synod  holds  “the  canonical  Scriptures  of  the 


Old  and  New  Testaments  as  the  Word 
of  God”  and  “the  Unaltered  Augsburg 
Confession  as  a  correct  exhibition 
of  the  faith  and  doctrine  of  our 


Doctrinal 
Restatement 
of  1913 


Church  as  founded  upon  that  Word.”  A  separate 
article  on  “secondary  symbols”  said  that  the  General 
Synod  recognizes  the  other  confessions  in  the  Book 
of  Concord  as  “expositions  of  Lutheran  doctrine  of 
great  historical  and  interpretive  value.”  This  consti¬ 
tutional  amendment  was  unanimously  approved  by  the 
district  synods.  It  was  the  culmination  of  a  splendid 
forward  movement  in  the  confessional  conservation 
of  the  General  Synod,  a  movement  that  extended  over 
forty  years  and  placed  that  body  on  an  unequivocal 
Lutheran  basis. 

The  General  Council  never  changed  “the  funda¬ 
mental  principles  of  faith”  that  it  had  adopted  when 
it  was  organized.  The  doctrinal  position  assumed  in 
those  principles  was  the  distinguishing  mark  of  the 
General  Council  throughout  the  fifty  years  of  its  life. 


It  asserted  that  the  Unaltered  Augs¬ 
burg  Confession  is  by  “pre-eminence” 
the  Confession  of  the  Lutheran  faith, 
being  “throughout  in  conformity  with 
the  pure  truth  of  which  God’s  Word 


Doctrinal 
Basis  of  the 
General 
Council 


is  the  only  rule,”  that  the  other  confessions  in  the 
Book  of  Concord  are  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
Augsburg  Confession,  and  that  the  confessions  in  order 


CONFESSIONAL  CONSERVATION 


281 


to  be  a  bond  of  union  must  be  understood  in  the  same 
sense  by  those  who  subscribe  to  them.  Thus  the  con¬ 
fessional  basis  of  the  General  Council  was  very  clear 
and  very  definite  from  the  beginning,  and  no  party 
within  the  body  ever  called  it  into  question.  As  a 
doctrinal  position  it  might  have  furnished  the  basis 
for  a  union  of  all  the  more  conservative  Lutheran 
bodies  in  America. 

But  the  General  Council  was  not  static.  It  had  to 
make  its  way  forward  to  the  solution  of  big  problems. 
It  was  soon  found  that  even  among  Lutherans  of  the 
strictest  orthodoxy  there  were  wide  differences  of 
opinion  concerning  the  doctrinal  teachings  of  the  con¬ 
fessions.  The  variety  of  interpretation  cropped  out 
particularly  in  several  matters  of 

practice.  The  result  was  that  the  Questions  of 

Practice 

Missouri  Synod  refused  to  join  the 
Council  and  most  of  the  other  western  synods  with¬ 
drew  after  the  organization  was  formed,  the  Joint 
Synod  of  Ohio,  the  German  Iowa  Synod,  and  then  the 
Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Illinois  and  Michigan  Synods. 
And  throughout  this  period  the  General  Council 
labored  towards  the  solution  of  serious  questions  con¬ 
cerning  the  practical  implications  of  the  confessions. 

At  the  very  first  convention  of  the  General  Council 
the  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio,  supported  by  the  German 
Iowa  Synod,  asked  for  a  declaration 
on  four  subjects  afterward  noted  as 
the  ‘Tour  points.”  The  first  was  the  question  con¬ 
cerning  chiliasm.  Some  theologians  then  in  the  Council 
had  taught  that  the  advent  of  Christ  would  be  pre- 


282  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


millennial.  This  matter  was  settled  when  the  Council 
in  1868  repudiated  “Jewish  opinions”  and  everything 
else  condemned  in  the  seventeenth  article  of  the  Augs¬ 
burg  Confession. 

But  the  rest  of  the  “four  points”  were  not  so  easily 
settled.  One  of  them  was  the  question  concerning 
secret  societies.  It  was  charged  that  in  congrega¬ 
tions  belonging  to  synods  in  the  General  Council 
there  were  many  members  of  secret  societies 
which  in  their  worship  denied  Christ,  imposed 
oaths  contrary  to  God’s  Word,  and  interfered 
with  supreme  loyalty  to  the  Church.  Ohio  and  Iowa 


demanded  immediate  and  drastic  dis¬ 
cipline  of  such  members.  But  the 
majority  in  the  General  Council  pre- 


Secret 

Societies 


ferred  to  be  gradually  educational  rather  than  to  pro¬ 
ceed  with  summary  discipline.  So  it  issued  a  declara¬ 
tion  on  the  subject  in  1868  branding  as  un-Christian 
those  secret  societies  that  fall  under  the  description  in 
the  complaint,  warning  its  members  and  ministers 
against  all  fellowship  with  such  societies,  and  threat¬ 
ening  prompt  discipline  against  those  who  persist  in 
their  “connection  with  infidel  and  immoral  associa¬ 
tions.”  This  statement  and  the  subsequent  practice  of 
the  General  Council  were  too  mild  to  please  the  Luth¬ 
erans  of  Ohio  and  Iowa,  and  for  years  they  debated 
the  subject  with  the  General  Council. 

The  other  two  of  the  “four  points”  that  occupied 
so  much  attention  of  the  General  Council  were  con¬ 
cerning  the  exchange  of  pulpits  with  ministers  who 
were  not  Lutheran  and  concerning  the  admission  of 


CONFESSIONAL  CONSERVATION 


283 


non-Lutherans  to  the  Lutheran  communion  altar.  The 
discussion  of  these  points  disclosed  differences  of 
opinion  within  the  General  Council 
itself  and  the  agitation  extended  over  Pulpit 

many  years.  In  the  synods  of  the  East  Fellowship 
it  had  been  customary  for  Lutheran 
preachers  to  preach  occasionally  in  the  pulpits  of  other 
evangelical  denominations  and  occasionally  to  invite 
or  admit  ministers  of  other  denominations  to  preach 
in  their  pulpits.  To  this  practice  the  representatives 
of  some  of  the  western  synods  objected  on  the  ground 
that  it  meant  indifference  to  error.  Then  there  were 
those  in  all  sections  of  the  General  Council,  particu¬ 
larly  among  the  German  and  Scandinavian  elements, 
who  objected  to  the  “general  invitation”  to  the  holy 
communion  on  various  grounds,  especially  on  the 
ground  that  it  undermined  church  authority  and 
church  discipline  and  proclaimed  the  indifference  of 
the  pastor  and  the  congregation  to  the  view  of  the 
Lord’s  Supper  held  by  the  communicant. 

Several  official  deliverances  were  necessary  before 

these  questions  of  pulpit  and  altar  fellowship  were 

settled.  In  the  course  of  the  agitation  several  of  the 

western  synods  withdrew  from  the  Council.  Of  those 

that  remained  the  New  York  Ministerium  was  specially 

zealous  in  demanding  stricter  regulations.  The  final 

action  of  the  Council  on  these  points 

is  known  as  “the  Galesburg  Rule,”  ^he  Galesburg 

Rule 

from  the  place  where  the  body  was 

meeting  when  the  action  was  taken  in  1875.  Three 

years  before  at  Akron,  Ohio,  a  statement  of  the  presi- 


284  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

dent  of  the  Council  was  made  the  official  action  of  the 
body  as  follows:  “1.  The  rule  is:  Lutheran  pulpits 
are  for  Lutheran  ministers  only;  Lutheran  altars  are 
for  Lutheran  communicants  only.  2.  The  exceptions 
to  the  rule  belong  to  the  sphere  of  privilege  and  not 
of  right.  3.  The  determination  of  the  exceptions  is  to 
be  made  in  consonance  with  these  principles  by  the 
conscientious  judgment  of  pastors,  as  the  cases  arise.” 
This  simply  meant  that  no  one  was  to  be  admitted 
either  to  the  pulpit  or  the  altar  unless  the  church,  or 
its  officers  acting  for  it,  were  satisfied  as  to  his  fitness 
and  preparation.  It  stated  what  was  generally  under¬ 
stood  to  be  the  practice  in  the  churches  of  the  General 
Council.  But  at  Galesburg  the  first  sentence  of  the 
Akron  statement  was  reaffirmed  and  a  clause  inserted 
to  make  it  read  “The  rule,  which  accords  with  the 
Word  of  God  and  with  the  confessions  of  our  Church, 
is,”  etc.  Then  a  long  controversy  broke  out  over  the 
meaning  of  terms  and  over  the  question  whether  the 
clause  inserted  at  Galesburg  did  not  dispense  with  the 
second  and  third  articles  admitting  exceptions.  Ses¬ 
sion  after  session  and  year  after  year  was  occupied 
by  the  discussion.  The  strict  constructionists  denied 
the  possibility  of  exceptions,  interpreted  “Lutheran” 
very  exclusively,  and  understood  “rule”  in  a  legislative 
sense.  But  the  author  of  the  Akron  Declaration  de¬ 
fined  the  word  “rule”  to  be  “not  governmental  but 
educational.”  The  Council  had  long  before  declared 
that  the  persons  to  be  excluded  from  the  Lutheran 
altar  are  the  “fundamental  errorists,”  that  is,  “those 
who  wilfully,  wickedly,  and  persistently  desert,  in 


CONFESSIONAL  CONSERVATION 


285 


The  Problems 
Solved 


whole  or  in  part,  the  Christian  faith.”  And  in  1889 
it  was  finally  decided  that  the  entire  Akron  Declaration 
was  still  in  force.  This  meant  that  exceptions  to  the 
rule  were  permissible  and  it  left  the  whole  matter 
largely  to  the  discretion  of  the  individual  pastors. 

These  were  some  of  the  major  difficulties  with  which 
the  General  Council  had  to  deal  in  establishing  unity 
among  those  who  had  originally  adopted  “the  funda¬ 
mental  principles  of  faith  and  polity.”  The  difficulties 
related  to  the  practical  application  of 
the  principles.  The  discussions  were 
often  prolonged  and  the  issues  con¬ 
fused  by  differences  of  nationality  and  language,  and 
for  years  they  proved  a  serious  hinderance  to  the 
development  and  growth  of  the  body.  But  in  nearly 
every  case  they  were  carried  through  to  complete 
clarity  and  thus  solved  some  of  the  most  pressing 
problems  confronting  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America. 

Now  the  man  who  gave  the  fullest  and  deepest  utter¬ 
ances  on  all  these  questions  was  Charles  Porterfield 
Krauth.  His  was  the  most  profound  insight  and  his 
voice  and  pen  always  spoke  with  the  highest  degree 
of  authority.  Dr.  Krauth  had  been  trained  in  the 
college  and  seminary  at  Gettysburg,  where  his  father 
was  president  and  professor.  He  had 
preached  five  years  in  Baltimore,  eight  Charles 

years  at  Martinsburg  and  Winchester,  Krauth^ 
Virginia,  and  four  years  in  Pitts¬ 
burgh.  In  1859  he  came  to  Philadelphia  as  pastor 
of  St.  Mark’s,  but  two  years  later  he  resigned  the 
pastorate  to  become  editor-in-chief  of  the  Lutheran 


286  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


and  Missionary.  His  own  theological  views  under¬ 
went  a  development  whose  stages  are  easy  to  follow. 
That  development  was  completed  in  1865  shortly  after 
he  became  professor  of  systematic  theology  in  the  new 
seminary  in  Philadelphia.  His  theological  position  and 
his  great  personal  talents  pre-eminently  fitted  him  to 
take  the  chief  part  in  recovering  conservative  Luth¬ 
eranism  and  placing  it  on  a  secure  basis  among  the 
English-speaking  Lutherans  in  America.  His  incisive 
and  exhaustive  articles  in  the  Lutheran  and  Missionary 
made  him  easily  the  most  brilliant  religious  pamph¬ 
leteer  among  that  generation  of  Americans.  His  thor¬ 
ough  scholarship  was  widely  recognized  outside  of  the 
Lutheran  Church.  He  was  professor  of  philosophy  at 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  from  1868  to  his  death 
in  1883,  and  several  of  his  larger  publications  are  in 
that  field. 

Dr.  Krauth  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  formation 
of  the  General  Council.  It  was  he  who  wrote  the 
“fundamental  principles  of  faith  and  polity”  that 
established  the  basic  character  of  the  body.  He  com¬ 
posed  the  model  constitution  for  congregations  that 
was  adopted  in  1880.  He  co-operated  actively  in  pro¬ 


ducing  the  Church  Book.  From  1870 
to  1880,  that  critical  period  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  General  Council,  he  was 


His 

Influence 


its  president.  The  Akron  Declaration  in  1872  and  the 
one  hundred  and  five  theses  on  altar  and  pulpit  fellow¬ 
ship  in  1877  were  his  composition.  His  most  important 
publication  was  “The  Conservative  Reformation  and 
Its  Theology,”  published  in  1872.  This  was  chiefly 


CONFESSIONAL  CONSERVATION 


287 


a  series  of  articles  that  had  appeared  before,  but  be¬ 
cause  of  its  profound  learning,  exhaustive  research, 
and  brilliant  style  it  is  widely  recognized  to  this  day 
as  the  completest  statement  in  English  of  the  position 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America.  As  professor 
of  systematic  theology  in  the  Philadelphia  Seminary 
he  moulded  the  views  of  most  of  the  ministers  in  the 
Council.  In  short,  the  personality,  scholarship,  and 
theology  of  Charles  Porterfield  Krauth,  more  than  that 
of  any  other  man,  determined  the  character  of  the 
General  Council  throughout  its  history. 

In  addition  to  the  discussions  on  the  “four  points” 
the  language  question  figured  prominently  in  the 
development  of  the  General  Council.  Germans,  Eng¬ 
lish,  Swedes,  all  had  strong  representation  in  the  body. 
At  the  urgency  of  the  Swedes  English 

was  made  the  official  language  of  the  The  Problem 

of  Language 

Council,  but  the  controversy  on  the 
subject  extended  over  many  years.  It  was  finally 
agreed  on  all  sides  that  it  is  just  as  possible  to  hold 
the  Lutheran  faith  and  to  observe  Lutheran  usages  in 
the  English  language  as  the  German. 

Towards  the  end  of  this  period  the  General  Council 
began  to  interpret  its  “fundamental  principles  of 
church  polity”  in  such  a  way  as  to  permit  a  greater 
centralization  of  the  practical  work  of  the  Council. 
The  home  mission  work  especially,  it  was  seen,  could 
best  be  carried  on  through  a  central  agency.  Then 
the  policy  of  unification  gradually  came  to  be  applied 
to  other  lines  of  benevolence,  as  in  the  General  Synod. 
This  was  largely  due  to  the  influence  of  Dr.  T.  E. 


288  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Schmauk,  the  president  of  the  General  Council  during 
the  last  fifteen  years  of  its  existence.  Dr.  Schmauk  was 

a  man  of  intense  energy,  profound 
T.  E.  Schmauk  scholarship,  and  broad  statesmanship. 


and 

Centralization 


He  exerted  a  more  varied  influence 
on  the  life  of  the  Church  than 


any  other  leader  since  Muhlenberg.  He  knew  how  to 
fuse  the  diverse  elements  within  the  Council.  He 
magnified  the  importance  of  the  general  organization 
over  which  he  presided,  and  by  his  skillful  adminis¬ 
tration  of  the  affairs  of  that  body  he  steadily  gathered 
more  and  more  power  into  the  hands  of  the  General 
Council  as  such  and  increasingly  brought  its  boards, 
committees,  and  voluntary  agencies  under  the  direct 
control  of  the  general  body.  But  this  process  of  cen¬ 
tralization  was  greatly  retarded  by  the  special  claims 
of  the  large  Swedish  Augustana  Synod,  and  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Council  at  all  times  guaranteed  the  internal  inde¬ 
pendence  of  its  constituent  district  synods.  And  so 
the  General  Council  always  found  its  chief  function 
in  maintaining  the  spirit  of  progressive  conservatism 
in  the  thought  and  practice  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
in  America. 

In  the  South  also  the  Lutherans  reached  a  more 

definite  confessional  basis  during  this 
Position  of  period.  The  General  Synod  of  the 


Southern 

Lutherans 


South,  organized  in  1863  by  delegates 
of  the  Synods  of  Virginia,  Southwest 


Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
stated  in  its  doctrinal  basis  that  the  “Apostles’  Creed, 
the  Nicene  Creed,  and  the  Augsburg  Confession  con- 


LUTHERAN  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  PHILADELPHIA 


CONFESSIONAL  CONSERVATION 


289 


tain  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Sacred  Scrip¬ 
tures”  which  “ are  the  Word  of  God,”  but  allowed 
a  difference  of  interpretation  of  several  articles 
of  the  Augsburg  Confession.  In  the  revised 
constitution  of  1868  no  mention  is  made  of  a  difference 
of  interpretation  of  the  Augsburg  Confession;  and 
the  candidate  for  ordination  is  required  to  pledge 
fidelity  to  “the  Word  of  God  and  to  the  Confessions 
of  our  Lutheran  Church  founded  thereon.”  In  1872 
the  General  Synod  of  the  South  declared  that  “It  has 
placed  itself  unequivocally  upon  the  Ecumenical  Creeds 
and  the  Augsburg  Confession  in  its  true,  native  and 
original  sense.”  Further  progress  in  appreciation  of 
the  confessions  is  shown  by  the  declaration  in  1880 
concerning  “the  symbols  adopted  subsequently  to  the 
Augsburg  Confession,”  that  the  General  Synod 
acknowledges  them  “as  in  accord  with  and  an  unfold¬ 
ing  of  the  teachings  of  the  Unaltered  Augsburg  Con¬ 
fession.” 

By  1886  the  process  of  confessional  conservation 
among  the  southern  Lutherans  had  reached  the  point 
where  the  Tennessee  Synod,  always  highly  conserva¬ 
tive  since  its  organization  in  1820,  was  willing  to  unite 
with  the  synods  of  the  General  Synod  South  and  with 
the  Holston  Synod  to  form  the  “United 
Synod  in  the  South.”  The  constitution  The  Basis 

of  the  new  body  planted  it  squarely  United  Synod 
upon  the  symbolical  books  “as  true 
and  Scriptural  developments  of  the  doctrines  taught  in 
the  Augsburg  Confession,  and  in  the  perfect  har¬ 
mony  of  one  and  the  same  pure  Scriptural  faith.”  In 
19 


290  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


accordance  with  this  doctrinal  basis  a  theological  semi¬ 
nary  was  established  in  1892  at  Newberry,  afterwards 
removed  to  Charleston,  and  finally  located  at  Columbia. 
For  some  years  the  United  Synod  was  obliged  to  dis¬ 
cuss  the  troublesome  questions  of  secret  societies  and 
pulpit  and  altar  fellowship.  But  the  Church  in  the 
South  was  averse  to  controversy  and  declined  to  legis¬ 
late  on  these  subjects.  It  was  finally  agreed  to  leave 
the  questions  undecided  and  to  recognize  the  difference 
of  opinion  which  exists,  though  sentiment  constantly 
gravitated  towards  the  stricter  practice. 

As  to  the  general  bodies  of  Lutherans  centering  in 
the  Middle  West,  we  cannot  properly  speak  of  con¬ 
fessional  conservation.  Among  the  Lutherans  of  Mis¬ 
souri,  Ohio,  Iowa  and  the  Norwegians,  super-confes¬ 
sional  ground  was  taken  from  the  beginning  and  kept. 
There  was  no  progress  either  in  the  doctrinal  positions 


occupied  or  in  the  interpretation  of 
those  positions.  There  were  a  number 
of  serious  controversies  on  doctrinal 


Predestination 

Controversy 


and  practical  matters,  but  these  only  served  to  mark 
more  clearly  the  shadowy  lines  of  difference  among  the 
general  bodies.  The  predestination  controversy  raged 
almost  without  intermission  throughout  this  period. 
It  produced  an  enormous  literature.  The  Missourians 
took  Dr.  Walther’s  position  that  God’s  election  is  the 
cause  of  man’s  salvation  and  even  of  man’s  faith,  and 
they  insisted  on  enforcing  this  position  as  the  only  con- 
fessionally  Lutheran  position  on  the  subject.  The  re¬ 
sult  was  the  separation  of  the  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio 
from  all  connection  with  Missouri,  a  division  among 


CONFESSIONAL  CONSERVATION 


291 


the  Norwegians  and  the  defection  of  a  large  majority 
of  them  from  Missouri,  and  the  alignment  of  the  Iowa 
Synod  with  the  “anti-Missourians.”  No  kind  of  agree¬ 
ment  could  be  reached.  Confessionally  there  was  no 
progress,  and  doctrinally  very  little. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe,  therefore,  that  the 
progress  of  every  Lutheran  body  in  this  country  has 
been  marked  by  an  increasing  appreciation  of  the  Con¬ 
fessions  of  the  Church.  It  was  no  accident  that  the 
culmination  of  the  confessional  development  in  the 
older  parts  of  the  Church  took  place  in  the  age  of 
big  business,  at  the  very  same  time 
when  the  Church  was  making  unprece-  ^Ne^Ag1* 
dented  strides  in  numerical  increase, 
in  geographical  expansion,  in  benevolent  operations, 
and  in  liturgical  achievement.  The  same  spirit  of 
enterprise  and  large  undertaking  that  charged  the 
atmosphere  of  society  in  general  and  characterized  the 
life  of  American  Christianity  as  a  whole  and  mani¬ 
fested  itself  in  other  lines  of  activity  among  Lutherans, 
naturally  made  itself  felt  also  in  the  sphere  of  doctrine 
and  brought  most  of  the  general  bodies  of  Lutherans 
into  such  close  approach  to  each  other  in  their  attitude 
towards  the  Confessions  that  it  foreshadowed  an  era 
of  still  larger  undertakings  among  them. 


PART  VI 

IN  AN  AGE  OF  LARGER  UNITS 

(1910—  ) 


The  National  and  International  View 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


In  the  second  decade  of  the  twentieth  century  a  new 
spirit  came  upon  society.  Both  Church  and  State 
caught  the  thrilling  enthusiasm  of  a  lofty  idealism  and 
almost  immediately  felt  the  chilling  reaction  from  that 
enthusiasm.  The  one  great  event  that  profoundly 
affected  all  human  relationships  was  the  World  War 
of  1914-1918.  It  is  still  too  early  to  estimate  the  net 
gains  to  the  Church  and  to  the  nation,  but  it  is  certain 
that  neither  of  them  will  be  again 
what  it  was  before  1914.  A  new  A  New  Era 
political  situation,  amounting  to  world-wide  revolution, 
came  into  being  and  called  for  new  alignments  and 
new  political  machinery  and  larger  combinations  of 
forces.  Likewise  a  new  spiritual  atmosphere,  highly 
charged  with  possibilities,  spread  over  the  earth  and 
called  the  Christian  Church  to  unimagined  opportuni¬ 
ties  and  larger  units  of  organization. 

The  United  States  entered  the  arena  of  international 
politics  and  became  the  nation  of  first  importance  in 
that  sphere.  The  way  had  been  prepared  for  this 
new  move  in  our  national  history.  Be¬ 
fore  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century  The  United 
the  government  had  adopted  a  more 
aggressive  foreign  policy  and  had  made 
its  influence  felt  over  Latin  America.  Then  the  Span¬ 
ish  War  in  1898  left  the  United  States  in  possession 
of  Porto  Rico,  Hawaii  and  the  Philippines,  with  a  pro- 

295 


States  a  World 
Power 


296  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


tectorate  over  Cuba.  Shortly  after  that  the  American 
government  took  the  lead  in  establishing  the  “open 
door”  policy  in  China  that  preserved  the  integrity  of 
that  country,  and  henceforth  American  diplomacy  has 
been  a  powerful  factor  in  the  Far  East.  Repeatedly 
the  United  States  had  to  take  a  hand  in  South  Ameri¬ 
can  affairs  to  prevent  European  powers  from  seizing 
territory  there.  The  building  of  the  Panama  Canal 
by  the  national  government  was  another  American 
project  of  international  import.  The  United  States 
took  a  creditable  part  in  the  Hague  conferences  on 
international  arbitration.  And  finally  America  took 
the  decisive  part  in  the  great  World  War  and  secured 
victory  for  the  Allies.  The  federal  government  of  the 
United  States,  which  had  begun  as  a  mere  rope  of  sand 
only  a  century  and  a  quarter  before,  had  now  become 
a  world  power  of  the  very  first  rank. 

This  series  of  events  taught  American  citizens  to 
think  in  terms  of  larger  units  than  before.  Forced  to 
realize  that  the  progressive  arts  and  sciences  of  civili¬ 
zation  had  drawn  the  whole  world  together  into  one 
great  neighborhood,  they  renounced  for  the  time  their 
vaunted  isolation  and  become  citizens  of  the  world. 


They  acquired  what  has  been  called 
“the  international  mind.”  Then  came 
a  veritable  flood  of  international 
organizations  covering  practically 


The 

International 

Mind 


every  sphere  of  human  interest  and  activity,  religious, 
social,  educational,  industrial,  and  political.  But  the 
one  organization  that  occupied  the  foreground  of  the 
discussion  was  the  international  political  organization. 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


297 


The  great  War  had  clearly  indicated  the  solidarity  of 
the  human  race  and  proved  the  need  for  a  body  of 
international  law  that  would  be  as  binding  on  the 
nations  as  civil  law  is  binding  on  individuals.  A  wide¬ 
spread  demand  arose  for  some  guarantee  against  an¬ 
other  such  an  outbreak  among  civilized  nations,  for 
fear  that  it  would  mean  the  death  of  civilization  itself. 
American  representatives  at  the  Peace  Conference  that 
followed  the  great  War  insisted  upon  a  definite  inter¬ 
national  organization  that  would  secure  permanent 
peace  among  the  great  powers.  And  so  for  several 
years  the  world’s  hope  of  peace  and  prosperity  seemed 
to  rest  in  the  United  States  of  the  world  known  as  the 
“League  of  Nations.” 

This  new  “internationalism”  in  politics  had  its 
parallel  in  a  new  “interdenominationalism”  in  the 
sphere  of  religion.  The  war-time  situation  made  new 
and  extraordinary  demands  upon  the  Churches  that 
could  not  be  met  by  the  denominations  acting  sepa¬ 
rately.  Even  before  the  war  broke  out  there  were  a 
number  of  movements  among  the 
Christian  Churches  of  America  look-  Administrative 
ing  towards  federation  or  administra¬ 
tive  union.  The  Young  Men’s  Chris¬ 
tian  Association  and  the  Young  Women’s  Christian 
Association  were  old  organizations  with  no  official 
relations  with  the  denominations.  But  now  a  number 
of  new  organizations  were  born  that  sought  to  secure 
co-operation  among  the  official  Churches,  though  only 
within  separate  fields  of  activity.  The  Foreign  Missions 
Conference  of  North  America,  established  in  1895,  is 


Union  in 
Religion 


298  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


an  officially  representative  body  chosen  by  the  foreign 
mission  boards  of  the  denominations  and  reporting  to 
those  boards.  The  Home  Missions  Council,  organized 
in  1908,  is  similarly  related  to  the  home  missionary 
agencies  of  the  Churches.  The  Council  of  Women 
for  Home  Missions,  dating  from  1908,  and  the  Federa¬ 
tion  of  Women’s  Boards  of  Foreign  Missions,  dating 
from  1916,  are  associations  of  representatives  from 
the  corresponding  women’s  boards  of  the  denomina¬ 
tions.  The  Council  of  Church  Boards  of  Education 
was  formed  in  1911  and  unites  the  educational  agen¬ 
cies  of  the  Churches.  And  the  Sunday  School  Council 
of  Evangelical  Denominations,  established  in  1910, 
consists  of  the  officially  appointed  representatives  of 
the  Sunday  School  agencies  of  the  Churches.  All  of 
these  organizations  helped  to  create  the  new  spirit  of 
common  counsel  and  co-operation  among  the  Churches, 
and  all  of  them  gathered  greater  zeal  and  a  widened 
scope  of  activity  from  the  unusual  demands  arising 
out  of  the  War. 

But  the  interdenominational  spirit  of  the  times  has 
expressed  itself  in  a  series  of  efforts  to  go  beyond 
administrative  union  along  special  lines  and  to  secure 
a  federation  of  the  denominations  themselves.  The 
earliest  and  most  outstanding  of  these  efforts  is  the 


Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America.  This  organization 
dates  from  1908.  Its  purpose  is  not 
union  but  federation,  to  encourage 


Federal 
Council 
of  Churches 


mutual  counsel  concerning  the  spiritual  life  and  the 
religious  activities  of  the  Churches  and  to  secure  co- 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


299 


operation  in  all  matters  affecting  the  moral  and  social 
condition  of  the  people.  Thirty  denominations  officially 
ratified  the  plan.  The  Federal  Council  at  once  began 
to  serve  as  a  clearing-house  for  a  considerable  number 
of  denominational  and  interdenominational  activities. 
It  not  only  helped  to  co-ordinate  the  work  of  existing 
denominational  agencies  but  it  also  established  new 
agencies  to  meet  new  demands  and  to  carry  out  new 
tasks  which  from  the  nature  of  the  case  could  not  be 
fulfilled  by  separate  denominational  agencies. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  great  War  the  Federal  Council 
was  the  one  interdenominational  agency  in  existence 
directly  representing  the  Churches  of  the  United 
States.  In  those  grand  and  awful  days  of  congested 
human  experience  the  Churches,  each  and  all,  imme¬ 
diately  perceived  the  tremendous  responsibility  resting 
upon  them.  One  by  one  they  appointed  their  denomi¬ 
national  commissions,  some  of  them 

not  without  a  considerable  stretch  of  Problems 

of  War 

denominational  authority.  These  com¬ 
missions  began  to  attack  their  vast  problems  with  in¬ 
tense  zeal  and  devotion.  But  it  was  soon  found  that, 
while  there  were  many  obvious  differences  among  them, 
yet  they  had  all  set  themselves  to  almost  identical  forms 
of  service  and  were  acting  with  startling  identity  of 
spirit  and  method.  The  impulse  to  unity  was  further 
stimulated  by  the  very  size  of  the  tasks  that  confronted 
the  Christian  Churches.  The  responsibilities  along 
several  lines  were  too  great  for  individual  denomina¬ 
tions  to  assume  them.  Then,  too,  the  Churches  had 
the  example  of  unity  among  the  nations  at  war.  If 


300  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


nations  could  hold  their  differences  in  abeyance,  if 
parties  and  classes  and  economic  interests  could  unite, 
even  at  sacrificial  cost,  it  was  felt  that  the  Christian 
Churches  could  not  refuse  to  join  one  another  in  sacri¬ 
fice  and  loyalty.  Moreover,  much  of  the  war-time 
work  of  the  Churches  involved  proper  understanding 
with  the  national  government,  and  the  national  gov¬ 
ernment  for  obvious  reasons  refused  to  deal  with  the 
Churches  as  separate  organizations. 

In  this  emergency  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches 
was  the  organization  most  nearly  qualified  to  speak 
in  a  representative  capacity  for  the  evangelical 
Churches  of  the  United  States.  It  organized  its  Gen¬ 


eral  War-Time  Commission.  This 
organization  served  as  a  clearing¬ 
house  of  information,  a  co-ordinating 
agency,  a  means  of  united  expression, 


General 

War-Time 

Commission 


and  an  instrument  for  joint  administration.  In  short, 
it  served  for  the  Churches  in  the  United  States  a  pur¬ 
pose  somewhat  parallel  to  that  served  by  the  united 
Supreme  Command  for  the  Allied  armies  in  battle 
array.  It  was  the  completest  expression  of  inter- 
denominationalism  that  had  yet  been  reached.  But  it 
was  born  of  an  emergency. 

Another  group  of  American  Christians  tried  to 
organize  an  administrative  union  of  denominations  on 

an  inclusive  scale.  This  effort  was 
Inter-Church  called  the  Inter-Church  World  Move- 


World 

Movement 


ment.  It  began  in  1918.  It  sought 
to  unite  practically  all  of  the  official 


agencies  of  the  Churches.  It  had  the  laudable  purpose 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


301 


of  conserving  the  best  impulses  begotten  during  the 
war.  It  tried  to  combine  the  international  mind  with 
the  impulse  to  Church  unity.  But  it  used  the  emer¬ 
gency  methods  of  war-times.  It  was  precipitate  and 
lacked  definition.  The  change  of  spirit  that  came  over 
society  after  the  war  quickly  dispelled  the  high  hopes 
of  the  Inter-Church  World  Movement.  It  is  only  an  in¬ 
cident  of  history  that  illustrates  the  temper  of  the  times. 

Meanwhile  several  efforts  were  made  to  go  beyond 
federal  and  administrative  union  and  achieve  organic 
union.  One  of  these  was  the  World  Conference  on 
Faith  and  Order.  This  was  initiated  by  the  Protest¬ 
ant  Episcopal  Church  in  1910.  It  sought  to  reunite 
Christendom.  The  proposed  method  is  by  ecumenical 
conferences  and  gradual  growth  of 
common  understanding.  But  this  plan 
has  more  and  more  clearly  proved 
itself  impossible,  and  even  the  first 
ecumenical  conference  is  still  only  an 
ideal  of  the  interdenominational  mind, 
at  organic  union  was  fostered  in  a  series  of  conferences 
in  Philadelphia  beginning  in  1918.  These  conferences 
were  held  at  the  invitation  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
They  aimed  at  the  eventual  union  of  the  Churches  by 
gradually  merging  their  missionary  and  benevolent 
agencies.  This  movement  met  with  very  little  real 
success.  Organic  union  of  the  Christian  Churches  of 
the  world,  or  even  of  the  United  States,  has  proved 
as  impossible  of  realization  as  a  super-government  of 
the  world  in  which  the  nations  of  the  earth  would  sink 
their  individual  sovereignty. 


World 

Conference  on 
Faith  and 
Order 

Another  effort 


302  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


The  last  few  years  have  witnessed  a  sharp  reaction 
both  against  internationalism  in  politics  and  against 
interdenominationalism  in  religion.  When  the  war 
closed  and  the  emergency  passed,  many  lofty  ideals 
were  dissipated  and  many  an  organization  was  re¬ 
solved  into  its  constituent  parts.  Many  an  instance 
of  unified  effort  that  had  been  secured  during  the  war 


by  social  or  political  pressure  or  by 
the  deep  stirring  of  human  passions 
was  found  to  have  vanished  completely 


Post-War 

Reaction 


when  that  pressure  was  removed  and  when  these  pas¬ 
sions  subsided.  War  measures  could  not  be  perpetu¬ 
ated  in  times  of  peace.  The  unity  of  command  that 
was  necessary  on  the  battlefield  and  in  the  nation  at 
home  in  order  to  secure  unification  of  forces  and  ulti¬ 
mate  success  in  the  campaign  could  not  be  continued 
after  the  common  enemy  had  been  driven  back,  vlt 
needed  only  a  few  weeks  of  peace  to  show  that  much 
of  what  seemed  to  be  unity  both  in  Church  and  State 
was  superficial  and  unreal,  and  much  that  was  real 
possessed  only  temporary  vitality. 

In  the  political  world  a  rising  tide  of  nationalism 
and  racial  patriotism  has  been  making  itself  felt.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  war  a  number  of  new  nations  sprang  into 
being  and  old  nations  were  reborn.  Much  emphasis 


was  laid  upon  the  ideas  of  self-deter¬ 
mination  and  national  consciousness. 
Accordingly,  after  the  war  was  over, 


Revival  of 
Nationalism 


the  American  nation  rejected  the  internationalism 
of  the  “League  of  Nations’"  and  gradually  with¬ 
drew  from  entangling  alliances  in  Europe.  The 


GENERAL  BACKGROUND 


303 


nervous  desire  to  rush  relationships  subsided.  Sharp 
differences  and  growing  ill-will  soon  became  manifest 
among  the  victorious  nations.  There  was  a  sharp  re¬ 
assertion  of  national  prejudices,  ambitions  and  fears. 
Subsequent  events  have  disclosed  numerous  friction 
points  among  the  nations.  Radical  differences  of 
policy  among  the  peoples  have  injected  a  note  of  pessi¬ 
mism  into  the  international  mind,  and  that  funda¬ 
mental  unity  among  the  nations  that  would  be  neces¬ 
sary  for  a  vigorous  international  organization  is  not 
yet  in  evidence.  The  individual  nations  are  more  con¬ 
cerned  about  fostering  their  national  consciousness  in 
each  case,  and  the  United  States  of  America  is  de¬ 
voting  her  main  energies  to  the  solution  of  her  many 
serious  internal  problems. 

In  the  religious  world  there  has  been  most  recently 
a  growing  emphasis  on  the  denominational  conscious¬ 
ness.  The  idea  of  self-determination  made  itself  felt 
among  the  Churches  as  well  as  the  nations.  The  arti¬ 
ficially  formed  unions  that  had  been  so  persistently 
attempted  during  the  decade  preceding  the  war  came 
to  nothing  or  were  crowded  into  the 
background  by  more  absorbing  inter-  Revival  of 
ests.  Interdenominationalism  declined  Denomina- 

tionalism 

with  the  passing  of  the  impulsive 
idealism  that  had  given  it  birth.  The  denominations 
found  that  they  had  their  own  internal  problems  as 
serious  as  those  of  the  nation.  Most  of  the  large 
Churches  discovered  that  their  evangelical  foundations 
were  endangered  and  needed  to  be  reinforced.  More¬ 
over,  in  the  face  of  the  world’s  appalling  needs,  calling 


304  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


for  direct  and  immediate  action,  each  denomination 
felt  impelled  to  take  inventory  of  its  denominational 
possessions  and  make  direct  application  of  its  resources 
to  the  impending  world  chaos.  The  bogey  of  mere 
bigness  no  longer  inspires  fear.  Genuine  unity  of 
spirit  has  been  found  to  be  much  more  important  than 
external  union  of  organization.  Among  the  divergent 
elements  in  American  Christianity  there  has  been  a 
distinct  movement  towards  the  concentration  into 
larger  units  of  those  elements  that  are  essentially  at 
one  in  their  doctrines  and  spirit  and  method.  The 
result  has  been  a  growing  tendency  towards  denomi¬ 
national  consolidation.  It  parallels  the  tendency  in 
national  political  life. 

In  the  Lutheran  Church  the  tendency  towards  de¬ 
nominational  consolidation  into  larger  units  appeared 
earlier  than  in  the  other  Churches.  It  characterizes 


the  history  of  our  Church  in  this 
period.  In  some  cases  the  movement 
was  hastened  to  completion  by  the 


Trend  Among 
Lutherans 


strenuous  impulses  growing  out  of  the  war.  But  in 
general  the  unification  movement  among  Lutherans 
was  simply  one  part  of  the  widespread  tendency  to¬ 
wards  denominational  consolidation  that  characterizes 
the  church  history  of  the  most  recent  years. 


LUTIIER  THEOLOGICAL  'E M INAR V.  ST.  RAUL,  MINN. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE  NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  OF  AMERICA 

The  first  definite  expression  of  the  growing  soli¬ 
darity  among  Lutherans  in  this  period  took  place 
among  the  Norwegians.  The  three  larger  bodies  of 
Norwegian  Lutherans  in  America  united  in  1917  and 
formed  an  organization  that  embraces  nearly  ninety- 
five  per  cent  of  all  the  Lutherans  of  Norwegian  nation¬ 
ality  in  America. 

The  Norwegians,  as  we  have  seen,  from  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  their  history  in  this  country  were  divided  into 
several  groups  by  questions  concerning  doctrine  and 
church  practice.  But  with  regard  to  the  great  issue 
of  preserving  the  Lutheran  faith  as  they  had  inherited 
it  from  their  fathers  they  were  all  ani¬ 
mated  by  the  same  spirit.  With  a  pro-  Variety  of 
nounced  spirit  of  freedom  in  all  mat-  r&amzation 

ters  concerning  the  general  management  of  church 
affairs  they  combined  a  conservatism  in  doctrine  that 
has  its  root  in  their  national  character  and  that  has 
given  their  church  in  this  country  its  dignity  and 
strength.  This  essential  unity  in  evangelical  faith  to¬ 
gether  with  the  common  ties  of  race  and  language 
early  suggested  organic  union  among  the  different 
groups.  But  many  years  passed  before  the  various 
factions  could  be  brought  together  on  a  common  plat¬ 
form.  During  the  period  of  internal  discord  divisions 
increased  among  them,  so  that  by  the  year  1870  there 
were  no  less  than  eight  separate  Norwegian  Lutheran 

305 


20 


306  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


The  United 
Church,  1890 


organizations  or  synods.  To  these  one  more  was 
added  in  1887  when  the  Anti-Missourian  Brotherhood 
was  formed. 

But  the  days  of  big  business  brought  a  new  spirit 
among  the  Norwegians  and  a  number  of  efforts  were 
made  to  reach  a  better  understanding.  The  desire  for 

co-operation  was  expressed  in  a  series 
of  free  conferences.  These  paved  the 
way  for  future  union.  The  first  result 
was  the  organization  at  Minneapolis  in  1890  of  the 
“United  Norwegian  Church  of  America.”  This  was  a 
merger  of  the  Norwegian  Augustana  Synod  (organized 
in  1860),  the  Danish  Norwegian  Conference  (organ¬ 
ized  in  1870),  and  the  Anti-Missourian  Brotherhood 
(organized  in  1887). 

The  “United  Church”  was  now  easily  the  largest 
organization  among  Norwegian  Lutherans.  But  two 
considerable  groups  of  them  still  had  no  organic  rela¬ 
tions  with  the  larger  body.  One  of 
saU0gd'S  these  was  the  Hauge’s  Synod.  This 

was  the  oldest  of  Norwegian  Synods 
in  this  country.  It  was  organized  in  1846  by  Elling 
Eielsen.  It  was  named  by  Norway’s  great  evangelist- 
reformer  and  it  always  stood  for  positive  and  coura¬ 
geous  evangelism  and  for  vigorous  development  of  lay 
leadership. 

The  other  group  of  Norwegians 
The  Norwegian  outside  of  the  “United  Church”  in  1890 
Synod,  1853  was  the  “Synod  of  the  Norwegian 

Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  of  America,”  com¬ 
monly  known  as  the  Norwegian  Synod.  This  organi- 


THE  NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  OF  AMERICA  307 

zation  dated  from  1853.  It  was  sponsored  by  a  group 
of  men  whose  names  became  highly  honored  and  re¬ 
spected  among  all  Norwegians,  such  as  Claussen,  Stub, 
Preus,  Brandt,  Dietrichsen  and  Ottensen.  These  men 
came  from  the  upper  classes  in  Norway,  were  trained  in 
the  University,  and  ordained  by  the  State  Church. 
Coming  to  America  they  naturally  stood  for  a  strict  in¬ 
terpretation  of  doctrine  and  close  adherence  to  the 
ritual  and  church  practices  of  the  Church  in  Norway. 
They  denied  the  right  of  laymen  to  conduct  evangelistic 
meetings,  and  they  had  no  dealings  with  the  followers 
of  Hauge.  In  1872  they  joined  the  Germans  of  the 
Missouri  Synod  in  forming  the  Synodical  Conference 
and  co-operated  in  the  work  of  the  Seminary  at  St. 
Louis.  But  eleven  years  later  they  withdrew  from  fel¬ 
lowship  with  the  Germans  because  of  a  violent  con¬ 
troversy  on  the  question  of  predestination  between 
Professor  Walther  of  the  Missourians  and  Professor 
Schmidt  of  the  Norwegians.  The  controversy  caused 
a  schism  in  the  ranks  of  the  Norwegian  Synod  itself, 
and  in  1887  Schmidt  withdrew  with  a  large  section 
of  the  Synod  and  formed  the  Anti-Missouri  Brother¬ 
hood  which  joined  the  “United  Church”  in  1890. 

The  history  of  the  “United  Church”  soon  demon¬ 
strated  the  wisdom  of  union  among  the  Norwegians. 
Conferences  began  to  be  held  with  the  The  Merger 
Norwegian  Synod.  Mutual  under-  in  1917 
standing  increased.  But  barriers  to  organic  union 
seemed  unsurmountable.  The  movement  that  finally 
resulted  in  the  merger  of  the  three  large  bodies  began 
in  1905.  The  Hauge’s  Synod  that  year  proposed  to 


308  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

the  other  Norwegian  Lutheran  bodies  that  the 
question  of  union  be  once  more  discussed  and 
if  possible  that  a  union  of  all  Norwegian  Lutherans 
in  America  be  effected.  Committees  were  appointed 
by  the  several  bodies  and  the  conferences  and  discus¬ 
sions  began.  Agreement  was  soon  reached  concerning 
the  activities  of  laymen  in  the  Church.  More  difficulty 
was  experienced  with  the  questions  concerning  election, 

conversion  and  predestination.  But  as  the  conferences 

• 

proceeded  the  opposing  parties  approached  common 
ground.  Conciliatory  resolutions  were  adopted  and 
finally  in  1916  all  three  bodies  adopted  the  Articles  of 
Union  and  declared  that  the  essential  unity  that  had 
been  attained  on  matters  of  doctrine  and  practice  was 
sufficient  to  warrant  Church  Union.  The  three  bodies, 
therefore,  celebrated  the  quadri-centennial  of  the 
Reformation  in  1917  by  holding  their  final  conventions 
as  separate  bodies  and  then  organizing  the  “Norwegian 
Lutheran  Church  of  America.” 

This  new  organization  was  a  fine  exposition  of  the 
spirit  of  denominational  consolidation  that  character¬ 
izes  this  period.  It  was  an  eloquent  witness  to  the 
growing  solidarity  among  Lutherans.  The  merger 
convention  in  St.  Paul  was  the  scene  of  the  greatest 
enthusiasm.  The  delegates  alone  numbered  2,362.  The 
impressive  ceremonies  on  June  9th  and  10th  are  re¬ 
garded  as  the  greatest  Church  demonstration  ever  held 
by  Norwegians  anywhere  in  the  world. 

Some  idea  concerning  the  significance  of  this  move¬ 
ment  and  the  great  influence  of  this  new  body  may  be 
gained  from  the  following  figures.  The  united  body 


THE  NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  OF  AMERICA  309 


embraces  about  1,300  ministers,  3,300  congregations, 
500,000  baptized  members  and  300,000  confirmed  mem¬ 
bers.  The  property  valuation  is  over  $6,000,000.  There 

are  twenty-eight  institutions  of  learn- 

,  ,  ,  n  .  ...  ,.  Its  Significance 

mg  and  a  large  number  of  institutions 

of  mercy,  Orphans’  Homes,  Deaconess  Motherhouses, 
Homes  for  the  Aged,  Immigrant  and  Seamen’s  Mis¬ 
sions,  and  so  forth.  The  three  bodies  that  have  con¬ 
solidated  have  formally  transferred  more  than  $5,000,- 
000  worth  of  property  to  the  united  organization.  This 
includes  all  the  educational  and  charitable  institutions 
and  the  property  on  mission  fields  in  the  United  States 
and  China  and  Madagascar. 

The  Norwegian  Lutheran  Church  of  America  is 
divided  into  nine  districts  embracing  various  sections 
of  the  country.  There  is  an  English  Association  com¬ 
posed  of  those  congregations  whose  official  language 
is  English.  This  association  is  not,  however,  separate 
from  the  districts.  Its  members  be¬ 
long  to  the  districts  in  which  they  re-  Its  Character 
side  and  constitute  a  leavening  influence  so  that  the 
Norwegian  language  is  slowly  yielding  to  the  English. 
The  main  theological  seminary  at  St.  Paul  has  a  double 
course,  a  full  Norwegian  course  and  a  full  English 
course.  About  one-third  of  the  services  of  the  entire 
Church  are  now  conducted  in  English.  Official  Church 
papers  are  published  both  in  Norwegian  and  in 
English. 

The  general  body  meets  every  three  years.  The  dis¬ 
trict  meetings  are  held  annually.  The  national  presi¬ 
dent  is  the  Right  Rev.  H.  G.  Stub,  D.D.,  who  was  for- 


310  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Its  Meetings 
and  Officers 


Its  Missions 


merly  president  of  the  Norwegian  Synod.  The 

national  president  and  the  district 
presidents  devote  all  of  their  time 
to  the  work  of  their  offices. 

The  missionary  work  of  the  Church  has  received 
great  impetus  from  the  merger  of  organizations.  Ex¬ 
tensive  missions  are  carried  on  in 
China,  Madagascar,  Africa  and 
Alaska,  and  among  the  American  Indians.  The  annual 
foreign  mission  budget  amounts  to  nearly  $500,000 
and  the  home  mission  budget  to  $350,000. 

Doctrinally  the  Norwegian  Church  rests  on  uncon¬ 
ditional  consent  to  the  canonical  books  of  Holy  Scrip¬ 
ture  as  the  infallible  Word  of  God  and  to  the  confes¬ 
sions  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  The 
Its  Doctrinal  three  bodies  uniting  in  the  merger 

have  promised  one  another  not  to  have 
Church  fellowship  with  Church  bodies  that  do  not 
share  the  Lutheran  faith  and  confessions.  But  the 
Norwegian  Lutheran  Church  is  desirous  of  fostering 
Lutheran  solidarity  and  has  manifested  its  willingness 
to  co-operate  with  other  Lutheran  bodies  in  this 
country. 

The  merger  of  the  three  Norwegian  bodies  includes 
all  the  Norwegian  Lutherans  in  this  country  except 

the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Free  Church 
Independent  with  its  185  ministers  and  its  29,000 

Lutherans1  members,  and  the  Eielsen  Synod  with 

its  seven  ministers  and  1500  members, 
and  the  Lutheran  Brethren  with  their  eleven  ministers 
and  1,000  members.  The  logic  of  events  would  seem 


THE  NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  OF  AMERICA  311 

to  point  towards  their  inclusion  also  in  the  newly 
formed  body. 

The  notable  success  of  the  unification  movement 
among  the  Norwegians  was  due  in  part  to  the  funda¬ 
mental  unity  of  their  faith,  in  part  to  the  admirable 
patience  which  they  exercised  in  their  pursuit  of  union, 
and  in  part  to  the  splendid  assistance  rendered  by 

their  laymen.  The  Norwegians  in  this 

,  .  ,  T  j  i  i  Prospects 

country  are  intense  Lutherans  and 

loyal  Americans,  and  as  the  use  of  the  English  lan¬ 
guage  increases  among  them  and  their  relations  with 
other  racial  elements  are  multiplied,  it  will  be  found 
that  closer  union  will  be  possible  with  the  other  Luth¬ 
erans  of  America.  Then  the  consummation  of  the 
merger  in  1917  will  be  found  to  be  only  a  step  in  the 
process  of  consolidation  that  brings  the  Lutherans  of 
America  into  ever  larger  units. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE  UNITED  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA 

The  most  significant  event  in  this  age  of  larger  units 
was  the  organization  of  The  United  Lutheran  Church 
in  America  in  1918.  It  attracted  wider  attention  among 
Christians  generally  than  any  previous  event  in  the 
whole  history  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country. 
The  United  Lutheran  Church  was  formed  by  a  merger 

of  the  General  Synod,  the  General 
its  Importance  Council,  and  the  United  Synod  of  the 

South.  These  three  bodies  had  lived  severely  apart 
from  one  another  for  more  than  fifty  years  and  their 
organic  union  at  one  stroke  was  a  fine  illustration  of 
the  prevailing  spirit  of  the  times.  The  formation  of 
the  new  body  was  fraught  with  greater  possibilities 
for  the  future  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country 
than  any  other  event  since  the  formation  of  the  General 
Synod  a  hundred  years  earlier.  It  was  the  realization 
of  one  of  Muhlenberg’s  ideals,  and  the  example  of 
denominational  consolidation  among  Lutherans  was 
warmly  commended  both  by  the  religious  and  the 
secular  press  to  the  other  great  denominations  whose 
forces  are  still  divided. 

The  completion  of  the  merger  took  place  with  a 
suddenness  that  startled  many  of  the  observers.  But 
as  a  matter  of  fact  the  times  were  ripe  for  such  an 
event  and  for  more  than  a  generation  the  way  had 
been  preparing.  From  the  developments  along  the 
lines  of  benevolence  and  polity,  of  liturgy  and  doctrine, 

312 


THE  UNITED  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA  313 


we  have  seen  that  the  three  bodies  of 
Muhlenberg  descent  in  the  days  of  big 
business  had  really  attained  funda¬ 
mental  unity  among  themselves.  And  a  long  series  of 
events,  extending  over  more  than  forty  years,  had  led 
to  a  complete  understanding  of  one  another  and  so 
paved  the  way  for  organic  union. 

One  of  the  first  steps  towards  the  reapproach  of 
the  separated  Lutherans  of  the  three  eastern  bodies 
was  taken  less  than  a  decade  after  the  schism  had 
occurred.  In  1873  the  General  Synod  proposed  an 
interchange  of  delegates.  The  General  Council  pro¬ 
posed  instead  an  informal  colloquium  of  representative 
men  from  the  different  bodies  to  deter¬ 
mine  what  is  the  Lutheran  faith.  ^ee  Lutheran 
When  no  official  action  could  be  had  a 
“Free  Lutheran  Diet”  was  held  in  1877.  This  was 
originated  by  the  private  efforts  of  Dr.  Morris  of  the 
General  Synod  and  Dr.  Seiss  of  the  General  Council. 
All  Lutherans,  clerical  and  lay,  without  regard  to 
synodical  connections,  were  invited  to  seats  and  mem¬ 
bership  in  the  Diet.  The  venture  was  so  successful 
that  a  second  Diet  was  held  the  next  year.  Thoroughly 
prepared  papers  were  read  and  discussed  and  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  of  each  diet  were  published  in  a  volume  that 
cast  much  light  on  living  questions  in  the  Lutheran 
Church. 

Shortly  after  that  the  three  general  bodies  began  to 
co-operate  successfully  in  the  work  of  liturgical  reform. 
As  we  have  seen,  the  preparation  of  a  Common  Service 
and  a  Common  Hymnal  and  a  common  book  of  Minis- 


314  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


terial  Acts  brought  together  many  of  the  leading  per¬ 


sonalities  of  the  different  bodies  and 
taught  them  to  understand  one  an¬ 
other,  to  respect  one  another’s  sin¬ 
cerity  and  loyalty,  and  to  labor  to- 


Work  on  the 

Common 

Service 


gether  in  a  common  cause.  This  work  extended  over 
a  long  period  of  years  and  continued  with  constantly 
increasing  scope  up  to  the  very  time  of  the  merger. 
The  harmonious  commingling  of  personalities  that  it 
produced,  as  well  as  the  common  liturgical  conscious¬ 
ness  that  it  developed,  did  more  than  any  other  one 
factor  to  pave  the  way  for  the  organic  union  of 
1918. 

In  1895  the  harmonious  relations  among  the  bodies 
had  reached  the  point  where  they  could  begin  to  ex¬ 
change  official  fraternal  visitors.  This  resulted  in  1898 
in  the  First  General  Conference  of  Lutherans  in 
America.  This  conference  differed  from  the  Diets  of 
1877  and  1878  by  being  officially  sponsored  by  the  gen¬ 
eral  bodies.  The  expressed  purpose  of  the  conference 


was  “to  prepare  the  way  for  a  better 
understanding  and  a  more  harmonious 
co-operation  among  the  Lutherans”  in 
the  General  Synod,  the  General  Council, 


General 
Conferences 
of  Lutherans 


and  the  United  Synod  of  the  South.  The  conference  was 
repeated  in  1902  and  again  in  1904.  The  meetings 
attracted  much  attention  and  called  together  represen¬ 
tative  men  from  all  three  parts  of  the  Church.  The 
papers  and  discussions  dealt  with  practical  as  well  as 
doctrinal  questions,  laying  special  emphasis  upon  the 
common  heritage  of  Lutherans,  and  the  three  volumes 


THE  UNITED  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA  315 


The  Celebration 
in  1883 


of  proceedings  did  much  to  remove  misunderstandings 
and  to  promote  the  spirit  of  unity. 

The  celebration  in  1883  of  the  four  hundredth  anni¬ 
versary  of  Luther’s  birth  was  another  factor  promot¬ 
ing  the  spirit  of  unity  among  Lutherans.  It  led  to  a 
general  review  of  Luther’s  life  and  teaching,  and  a 
higher  appreciation  of  our  common  Lutheran  heritage. 
Many  Lutherans  awoke  for  the  first  time  to  a  real  un¬ 
derstanding  of  the  distinctive  features  of  Lutheranism 
as  they  witnessed  the  profound  respect 
that  the  Reformer  commanded  among 
the  best  men  of  other  Protestant 
Churches.  The  celebration  assembled  great  multitudes 
of  people  and  aroused  intense  enthusiasm.  The  Luth¬ 
erans  of  each  locality  co-operated  in  the  celebration 
without  regard  to  synodical  bounds.  The  literature  in¬ 
spired  by  the  occasion,  including  two  English  transla¬ 
tions  of  the  life  of  Luther,  helped  to  foster  the  spirit  of 
common  devotion  to  Lutheran  standards.  A  number  of 
general  Lutheran  undertakings  can  be  traced  to  this 
anniversary. 

Then  there  appeared  a  number  of  volumes  that 
tended  to  cultivate  a  sense  of  oneness  among  all  the 
Lutherans  in  America.  Wolf’s  popular  history  of 
the  “Lutherans  in  America”  diffused  among  the  people 
a  wider  outlook  and  a  deeper  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  the  Church  as  a  whole.  Umfying 

Literature 

Jacobs’  history  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  this  country  helped  to  develop  the  historical 
perspective  and  an  appreciation  of  our  common  life  as 
Lutherans.  Still  later  Neve’s  brief  history  of  the 


316  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Lutheran  Church  helped  men  to  understand  the  issues 
at  stake  among  the  different  bodies  by  depicting  the 
sources  of  our  various  Lutheran  synodical  organiza¬ 
tions.  A  book  on  “The  Distinctive  Doctrines  and 
Usages  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church/’  contain¬ 
ing  one  chapter  each  by  representatives  of  all  the  gen¬ 
eral  bodies,  frankly  indicated  the  differences  in  point 
of  view  and  at  the  same  time  showed  the  essential 
unity  in  fundamentals  among  the  three  eastern  bodies. 
The  “Lutheran  Manual”  by  Dr.  J.  B.  Remensnyder  and 
the  several  Lutheran  “handbooks”  and  annual 
“almanacs”  also  helped  to  obliterate  inter-ecclesiastical 
lines  by  including  all  bodies  in  the  enumeration  of 
Lutheran  strength  and  assets  in  this  country.  This 
study  of  the  history  and  general  standing  of  the  Church 
as  a  whole  led  men  to  cultivate  the  nation-wide  view 
and  to  think  of  themselves  as  members  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  rather  than  as  members  of  a  particular  synod. 

In  the  meantime  the  General  Synod,  General  Council 
and  the  United  Synod  of  the  South  had  begun  to  co¬ 
operate  along  several  lines  of  practical  work.  Very 
cordial  relations  were  maintained  among  the  foreign 
missionary  agencies  of  the  three  bodies.  For  a  time 
the  Lutherans  of  the  South  supported  a  missionary  in 


connection  with  the  General  Synod’s 
mission  at  Guntur  in  India.  Later  the 
General  Council  and  the  United  Synod 


Co-operation 
in  Missions 


co-operated  in  the  mission  work  in  Japan.  The  Foreign 
Mission  Boards  of  the  General  Synod  and  the  General 
Council  sometimes  exchanged  missionaries  and  per¬ 
formed  various  mutual  services  in  connection  with  the 


THE  UNITED  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA  317 

missions  in  Guntur  and  Rajahmundry.  This  resulted 
in  frequent  conferences  and  a  more  fraternal  attitude 
on  the  part  of  prominent  workers  in  the  several  bodies. 
On  the  home  mission  field  increasing  efforts  were  made 
to  prevent  friction  between  the  General  Synod  and  the 
General  Council.  A  Committee  on  Arbitration  was 
appointed  by  the  General  Council  in  1895  and  a  Com¬ 
mission  on  Practical  Co-operation  a  few  years  later. 
In  1909  these  were  consolidated  into  the  Home  Mission 
Arbitration  Commission.  This  commission  labored 
effectively  with  a  similar  commission  of  the  General 
Synod  and  greatly  reduced  the  points  of  interference 
in  the  home  mission  enterprise.  In  this  way  on  the 
foreign  and  home  missionary  fields  the  interests  of  the 
Church  as  a  whole  were  put  above  the  interests  of 
separate  organizations  within  the  Church. 

Another  factor  in  the  preparation  for  the  merger  is 

found  in  the  numerous  agencies  that  helped  to  bring 

together  representatives  of  the  different  bodies  and 

make  them  better  acquainted.  Such  is,  for  example, 

the  Luther  Society  of  New  York  City,  which  originated 

in  the  Luther  Jubilee  of  1883.  It  is  an  association  of 

laymen  of  standing  without  regard  to 

their  synodical  relations,  which  holds  Unifying  . 

i  i  u  4.-  t>  £  Organizations 

an  annual  celebration  on  Reformation 

Day  and  an  annual  banquet  in  the  winter.  Another 

such  organization  is  the  Lutheran  Social  Union  of 

Philadelphia  which  for  many  years  has  brought  the 

ministers  and  laymen  of  the  different  bodies  together 

in  a  social  way.  Other  cities  had  similar  associations. 

The  Young  People’s  Lutheran  Association,  which  in 


318  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


1893  changed  its  name  to  “The  Luther  League,”  spread 
over  all  the  general  bodies  and  performed  a  splendid 
service  in  training  the  rising  generation  of  Church 
members  into  a  sense  of  Lutheran  unity  that  ignored 
synodical  differences.  A  similar  function  was  per¬ 
formed  for  other  groups  of  Lutherans  by  such  organi¬ 
zations  as  the  pan-Lutheran  missionary  conferences 
among  students,  the  conference  of  Lutheran  educators, 
the  conference  of  Lutheran  editors,  the  Lutheran 
Brotherhood,  the  Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement,  the 
Lutheran  Historical  Society,  the  Lutheran  ministerial 
unions  in  various  centers,  and  the  Woman’s  Missionary 
Society.  In  all  these  ways  the  ministers  and  laymen  of 
the  three  bodies  frequently  met  together  face  to  face  in 
friendly  consultation  and  thus  there  grew  up  a  general 
spirit  of  fraternity  and  good-will  that  was  very  im¬ 
portant  in  preparing  the  way  for  their  ultimate  union. 

Through  the  years  also  the  internal  problems  of  the 
several  bodies,  problems  doctrinal,  liturgical  and  prac¬ 
tical,  had  one  by  one  reached  solutions  that  in  every 
case  tended  to  mutual  rapproachment  among  the  sepa¬ 
rated  bodies.  When  the  age  of  larger  units  dawned 
the  spirit  of  the  new  denominationalism  had  done  its 


work  and  Lutherans  began  to  face  the 
fact  that  their  various  efforts  to  form 
“general”  bodies  had  been  painfully 


Times  Ripe 
for  Union 


unsuccessful.  Lutheran  unity,  the  professed  aim  of 
many  a  diet  and  conference,  was  now  taken  for 
granted,  and  Lutheran  union,  long  and  earnestly  dis¬ 
claimed,  became  a  subject  of  discussion  wherever 
representatives  of  different  general  bodies  were  gath- 


THE  UNITED  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA  319 


erecl  together.  By  the  middle  of  the  second  decade  in 
the  new  century  the  situation  was  such  that  it  needed 
only  some  extraordinary  occasion  to  bring  about  a 
merger  of  the  three  bodies. 

The  occasion  was  furnished  by  the  Quadri-Centen- 

nial  of  the  Reformation  in  1917.  The  plans  for  the 

celebration  of  the  four  hundredth  anniversary  were 

laid  on  a  most  elaborate  scale.  As  early  as  1909  the 

General  Council  invited  the  General  Synod,  the  United 

Synod,  and  other  Lutheran  bodies  in  the  United  States 

to  co-operate  in  a  worthy  celebration. 

By  1913  the  three  eastern  bodies  had  The  Quadri- 
.  ,  ...  ,  ,  Centennial 

appointed  committees  to  co-operate  in  igi7 

and  the  next  year  these  committees 

organized  as  the  “Joint  Committee  on  the  Celebration 

of  the  Quadri-Centennial  of  the  Reformation.”  The 

Joint  Committee  opened  offices  in  Philadelphia  and 

called  an  executive  secretary,  and  it  was  within  this 

Committee  that  the  first  formal  step  was  taken  towards 

organic  union  of  the  three  bodies. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  April  18, 
1917,  several  lay  members  of  the  Committee  presented 
a  resolution  that  had  been  adopted  the  evening  before 
by  a  gathering  of  eight  laymen  requesting  the  Joint 
Committee  to  arrange  a  general  meeting  of  Lutherans 
to  formulate  plans  for  the  unification  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  America.  After  an  all-day 
discussion,  in  which  the  laymen 
strongly  pressed  for  immediate  and  organic  union,  the 
following  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  Joint  Com¬ 
mittee  with  practical  unanimity:  “Believing  that  the 


April  18,  1917 


320  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


time  has  come  for  the  more  complete  organization  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country,  we  propose  that 
the  General  Synod,  the  General  Council,  and  the  United 
Synod  of  the  South,  together  with  all  other  bodies  one 
with  us  in  our  Lutheran  faith,  be  united  as  soon  as 
possible  in  one  general  organization  to  be  known  as 
The  United  Lutheran  Church  in  America.,,  The  presi¬ 
dents  of  the  three  general  bodies,  who  by  this  time 
were  co-operating  with  one  another  quite  regularly, 
were  requested  to  appoint  a  committee  to  prepare  a 
constitution  for  the  new  organization  that  might  be 
submitted  to  the  general  bodies  at  their  meetings  that 
year. 

The  committee  on  constitution  was  appointed,  and 
after  much  strenuous  labor  the  constitution  for  the 
merged  body  was  completed.  A  few  weeks  later, 
June  20-27,  1917,  it  was  solemnly  ratified  by  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Synod.  The  General  Council  adopted  it  October 
24-29,  1917,  and  the  United  Synod  of  the  South  did 


likewise  November  6-8,  1917.  The 
instrument  was  then  submitted  to  the 
district  synods  and  every  one  of  the 


The  Merger 
Consummated 


forty-six  synods  composing  the  three  general  bodies 
promptly  ratified  it  in  the  prescribed  manner,  except 
the  Augustana  Synod,  which  because  of  its  distinctive 
problems  and  special  needs  formally  withdrew  from 
the  General  Council.  The  three  bodies  appointed  a 
joint  Ways  and  Means  Committee  to  prepare  the  foun¬ 
dation  and  set  up  the  machinery  for  the  operation  of 
the  new  Church.  This  committee  performed  its  diffi¬ 
cult  and  delicate  task  with  eminent  success.  During 


THEODORE  E.  SCI  I  MACK.  D.D.,  LL.D. 


THE  UNITED  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA  321 

the  week  of  November  11,  1918,  each  of  the  general 
bodies  held  an  adjourned  meeting  in  New  York  City, 
completing  their  business  as  separate  organizations, 
and  then,  November  14-16,  all  of  them  joined  in  the 
general  meeting  in  that  city,  that  constituted  the  first 
convention  of  The  United  Lutheran  Church  in  America. 
As  the  first  president  of  the  new  organization  the 
convention  elected  the  Rev.  Dr.  F.  H.  Knubei,  of  New 
York  City,  a  member  of  the  New  York  Synod  of  the 
General  Synod,  and  president  of  the  National  Lutheran 
Commission  for  Soldiers*  and  Sailors*  Welfare.  The 
first  secretary  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  M.  G.  G.  Scherer,  a 
member  of  the  South  Carolina  Synod  and  president 
of  the  United  Synod  of  the  South.  The  first  Treasurer 
was  Mr.  E.  Clarence  Miller,  of  Philadelphia,  a  member 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium. 

The  organization  of  The  United  Lutheran  Church 
was  the  most  complete  example  of  denominational  con¬ 
solidation  ever  attempted  by  any  Protestant  body  in 
our  country.  It  was  accomplished  with  remarkable 
unanimity.  It  not  only  aroused  the  greatest  enthusiasm 

among  its  own  constituents  but  it  also 

,,  .Its  Significance 

attracted  wide  attention  on  the  part 

of  the  general  public,  for  it  became  immediately  one 
of  the  most  potent  forces  to  be  reckoned  with  in  Ameri¬ 
can  Christianity.  The  new  body  embraced  forty-five 
district  synods  covering  all  parts  of  the  United  States 
and  Canada  and  aggregating  almost  800,000  confirmed 
members,  with  about  2,800  ministers  and  nearly  4,000 
churches.  It  soon  outnumbered  the  Missouri  Synod  in 
its  confirmed  membership,  and  next  to  the  loose  organi- 

21 


322  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


zation  known  as  the  Synodical  Conference  it  is  the 
largest  Lutheran  body  in  America  today. 

The  spirit  and  structure  of  The  United  Lutheran 
Church  may  be  understood  by  considering  several  of 
the  special  characteristics  of  the  new  body.  The  objects 
of  the  organization  are  stated  to  be  the  extension  of  the 


pure  teaching  of  the  Gospel,  the 
strengthening  of  the  Church  in  the 
unity  of  the  true  faith,  the  outward 


Its  Avowed 
Objects 


expression  of  the  spiritual  unity  of  Lutheran  congrega¬ 
tions,  and  the  co-ordination  and  direction  of  the  ener¬ 
gies  of  the  Church  in  training  ministers,  in  prosecuting 
missionary  work,  in  regulating  the  externals  of  wor¬ 
ship,  and  in  publishing  literature. 

For  its  doctrinal  basis  The  United  Lutheran  Church 
receives  the  canonical  Scriptures  as  the  inspired  Word 
of  God  and  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  prac¬ 
tice,  the  three  general  creeds  as  important  testimonies 
drawn  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  Unaltered  Augs¬ 


burg  Confession  as  a  correct  exhibition 
of  the  faith  and  doctrine  of  the  Luth¬ 
eran  Church  and  the  generic  creed  of 


Its  Doctrinal 
Basis 


Lutheranism,  and  the  other  symbolical  books  as  in 
harmony  of  one  and  the  same  pure  Scriptural  faith. 
The  preamble  of  the  constitution  invites  all  Evangelical 
Lutheran  congregations  and  synods  in  America  who 
agree  with  this  doctrinal  basis,  to  unite  withTheUnited 
Lutheran  Church  on  the  terms  of  its  constitution. 
Thus  the  door  is  left  open  for  a  still  larger  measure 
of  denominational  consolidation. 

The  liturgy  and  hymnology  recommended  by  the 


THE  UNITED  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA  323 


new  body  is  the  Common  Service  Book  and  Hymnal 
and  the  common  book  of  ministerial 


Its  Liturgy 
and  Hymnology 


acts  that  were  completed  by  a  joint 
committee  of  the  three  bodies  before 


the  merger  was  consummated. 

Concerning  the  polity  of  the  United  Lutheran 
Church  it  may  be  observed  that  larger  powers  are 
conferred  on  the  general  organization  than  in  any 
other  body  of  Lutherans  in  this  country.  As  one  of 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  organization  it  is 
specifically  stated  that  the  congregations  are  the  pri¬ 
mary  bodies  through  which  power  committed  by  Christ 
to  the  Church  is  normally  exercised.  But  by  the  pro¬ 
visions  of  the  constitution  and  by-laws  wide  jurisdic¬ 
tion  is  expressly  delegated  by  the  Synods  to  The  United 
Lutheran  Church.  Legislative  powers 


Its  Polity 


are  vested  in  the  biennial  convention 


of  the  delegates  from  the  constituent  Synods.  These 
powers  are  absolute  in  such  matters  as  the  external 
relations  of  synods,  conferences,  or  boards  with  gen¬ 
eral  organizations  or  movements,  in  matters  affecting 
the  United  Church  as  a  whole,  in  inter-synodical  affairs, 
in  protecting  the  doctrinal  basis,  and  in  publishing 
books  of  devotion  and  instruction.  The  judicial 
authority  is  the  commission  of  adjudication,  which 
interprets  laws  and  principles  and  decides  all  disputed 
questions  of  doctrine  and  practice. 

The  executive  functions  of  The  United  Lutheran 
Church  are  vested  in  the  officers  of  the  general  body, 
in  an  Executive  Board,  and  in  a  score  or  more  of  other 
boards  and  committees  for  special  purposes.  It  is  here 


324  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Its  Boards 


that  the  greatest  concentration  of  power  is  effected. 
Both  the  president  and  the  secretary  of  the  general 

body  are  salaried  officials  devoting  their 
entire  time  to  the  duties  of  their  offices. 
They  are  ex-officio  members  of  the  Executive  Board. 
Wide  jurisdiction  is  committed  to  the  Executive  Board. 
It  is  required  to  carry  out  the  resolutions  of  The  United 
Lutheran  Church,  to  fill  vacancies  not  otherwise  pro¬ 
vided  for,  to  receive  reports  from  all  the  other  boards, 
regulate  their  propaganda  for  funds  and  co-ordinate 
their  work,  to  present  a  budget  and  propose  apportion¬ 
ments  to  the  conventions,  and  to  represent  The  United 
Lutheran  Church  and  attend  to  its  business  during 
the  interim  between  conventions.  It  is  specified  that 
if  any  district  synod  should  desire  to  continue  its  estab¬ 
lished  lines  of  work  for  reasons  satisfactory  to  the 
general  body,  such  privilege  may  be  granted,  but  it  is 
evident  from  the  general  scheme  of  administration 
that  the  work  of  the  Church  is  done  through  the  gen¬ 
eral  boards  as  representatives  of  the  Church  at  large 
rather  than  through  the  individual  synods  or  their 
agencies. 

This  strong  compact  form  of  organization  in  the 
United  Lutheran  Church,  involving  the  willing  sur¬ 
render  of  many  a  cherished  right  and  the  legal  trans¬ 
fer  of  many  millions  of  dollars  worth 
its  General  0f  property,  gave  notice  from  the 

Character  beginning  that  the  merger  of  the  three 

general  bodies  in  The  United  Lutheran  Church  was 
intended  to  be  thorough-going,  permanent  and  effec¬ 
tive.  Taking  the  organization  as  a  whole  its  spirit  and 


THE  UNITED  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA  325 

structure  resembles  the  spirit  and  structure  of  the 
United  Synod  of  the  South  in  more  respects  than  it 
resembles  either  of  the  other  general  bodies  uniting 
in  it.  The  general  satisfaction  with  the  union  is  due 
to  the  previous  fact  of  genuine  unity.  The  United 
Lutheran  Church  in  America  was  the  logical  consum¬ 
mation  of  the  events  of  half  a  century. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 


THE  MERGING  OF  DISTRICT  SYNODS 

The  United  Lutheran  Church  in  America  was 
formed  by  the  district  synods  that  had  constituted  the 
General  Synod,  the  General  Council,  and  the  United 
Synod  of  the  South.  It  therefore  healed  the  schisms 
that  had  been  made  in  1862  and  1864.  It  placed  all 
of  the  forty-five  district  synods  on  the  same  doctrinal 


basis,  committed  them  all  to  the  same 
general  practices,  and  made  them  all 
to  conduct  their  general  benevolent 
and  missionary  operations  through  the 


One  Effect 
of  the  General 
Merger 


same  general  boards.  It  was  to  be  expected,  therefore, 
that  the  organization  of  the  larger  general  body  would 
lead  to  the  healing  of  the  divisions  among  district 
synods  that  had  grown  out  of  the  disruption  during 
the  period  of  internal  discord.  It  was  soon  seen  that 
The  United  Lutheran  Church  would  not  be  a  truly 
united  Church  until  all  of  its  interests  in  various 
synodical  sections  were  thoroughly  cemented  into  more 
compact  units  in  their  respective  territories.  To  that 
end  overlapping  and  competing  synods  began  negotia¬ 
tions  at  once  looking  towards  the  readjustment  of 
synodical  lines  that  would  unite  the  Lutheran  forces 
in  each  district  in  one  common  aim  and  purpose. 

This  work  has  made  remarkable  progress  in  the  last 
few  years.  It  is  a  distinct  movement  in  the  direction 
of  larger  units.  It  means  much  not  only  for  enlarged 
unity  but  also  for  increased  efficiency.  For  the  dis- 


326 


THE  MERGING  OF  DISTRICT  SYNODS 


327 


trict  synods,  as  the  component  parts  of  The  United 
Lutheran  Church,  are  directly  charged  with  the  admin¬ 
istration  of  affairs  on  the  territories 
,  ,  n  ,  n  .j,  .  Its  Significance 

where  they  operate,  and  no  unifying 

power  of  general  bodies  is  nearly  so  potent  or  effective 
as  the  bond  of  union  that  centers  in  the  educational, 
missionary  and  benevolent  institutions  within  a  given 
territory.  The  process  of  merging  district  synods  is 
only  the  completion  of  the  merger  in  The  United  Luth¬ 
eran  Church. 

Already  (April,  1922)  seven  such  mergers  have 
taken  place,  and  negotiations  for  readjustment  have 
begun  on  two  other  territories,  which  if  completed  will 
practically  eliminate  all  overlapping  and  competition 
among  the  district  synods  of  The  United  Lutheran 
Church. 

The  first  merger  took  place  on  the  Pittsburgh  terri¬ 
tory  within  a  year  after  the  organization  of  The  United 
Lutheran  Church.  The  Pittsburgh  district  was  the 
great  battleground  among  Lutherans  in  1867.  The 
original  Synod  had  been  organized  in  1845  by  eight 
clergymen  and  six  laymen.  It  had  grown  vigorously 
and  in  1867  included  sixty-seven  pas¬ 
tors  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  g^o^Urgh 
churches.  Then  came  the  division,  one 
part  adhering  to  the  General  Synod,  the  other  to  the 
General  Council.  Each  body  claimed  the  original 
name,  and  for  a  long  time  there  was  much  bitter  feel¬ 
ing  between  the  two.  But  the  missionary  spirit  of  the 
old  Synod  was  maintained  in  both  of  its  divisions,  and 
Lutheranism  flourished  on  the  Pittsburgh  territory. 


328  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

On  November  18,  1919,  when  the  two  divisions  re¬ 
united  in  the  spirit  of  unity  and  brotherhood,  the 
merger  convention  enrolled  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  pastors  and  one  hundred  and  six  laymen.  The 
new  organization  took  the  name  of  the  original  Pitts¬ 
burgh  Synod  to  preserve  its  historical  continuity  from 
1845.  It  became  the  second  largest  synod  in  The 
United  Lutheran  Church.  It  prepared  to  manifest 
continued  vitality  in  various  missionary  endeavors,  and 
organized  itself  upon  a  strong  basis  calculated  to  make 
it  an  effective  representative  of  Lutheranism  among 
the  teeming  multitudes  of  the  Pittsburgh  district  and 
in  the  general  work  of  the  Church  at  large. 

Several  months  later  two  mergers  of  district  synods 
occurred  on  the  same  day.  One  of  these  was  in  the 
State  of  Illinois.  The  congregations  in  that  State  be¬ 
longing  to  The  United  Lutheran  Church  were  separated 
into  four  district  synods.  Three  of  these  had  belonged 
to  the  General  Synod,  the  Northern  Illinois  Synod 
(organized  in  1851) ,  the  Central  Illinois  Synod  (organ¬ 
ized  1862),  and  the  Southern  Illinois  Synod  (organ¬ 
ized  1901).  One  of  them  had  belonged  to  the 
General  Council,  the  Chicago  Synod  (organized 

1896),  which,  however,  was  only 
Illinois  Synod  partly  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  As  the 

more  effective  administration  of  larger  synodical  units 
commended  itself  also  to  the  Lutherans  of  Illinois, 
negotiations  were  begun  that  resulted  in  the  organi¬ 
zation  on  June  10,  1920,  of  the  Illinois  Synod,  embrac¬ 
ing  practically  all  the  congregations  of  The  United 
Lutheran  Church  in  that  State.  It  enrolled  one  hun- 


THE  MERGING  OF  DISTRICT  SYNOD^U  329 

dred  and  fifteen  pastors  and  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  congregations  with  a  confirmed  membership  of 
24,000.  Like  the  other  large  synods,  it  elected  a 
salaried  president  for  a  term  of  five  years.  It  outlined 
an  aggressive  home  missionary  policy  and  employed 
two  field  missionaries.  It  set  up  the  machinery  neces¬ 
sary  for  a  vigorous  administration  of  United  Lutheran 
Church  interests  on  that  strategic  territory. 

Another  merger  completed  on  June  10,  1920,  was 
called  the  Michigan  Synod  of  The  United  Lutheran 
Church.  This  was  formed  by  the  congregations  of  the 
Northern  Indiana  Synod  of  the  former  General  Synod 
(organized  1855)  and  portions  of  the  Chicago  Synod 
lying  in  the  State  of  Michigan.  This  merger  was  not 
according  to  state  lines,  but  it  was  felt 
that  the  congregations  in  the  State  of  Mlchigan 
Michigan  would  not  be  strong  enough 
of  themselves  to  take  advantage  of  the  splendid  home 
missionary  opportunities  in  that  State.  So  it  was 
agreed  that  the  entire  Synod  of  Northern  Indiana 
should  for  the  present  help  to  constitute  the  Michigan 
Synod,  with  the  understanding  that  when  the  pas¬ 
torates  in  Michigan  number  twenty-five  the  Michigan 
Synod  congregations  in  the  State  of  Indiana  will  unite 
with  the  Indiana  Synod.  The  new  Synod  numbered 
fifty  pastors  and  eighty-seven  congregations  with 
about  12,000  confirmed  members. 

Two  weeks  after  the  Michigan  Synod  had  been 
organized  the  Indiana  Synod  was  born.  This  was  the 
result  of  a  merger  of  the  Olive  Branch  Synod  with  a 
portion  of  the  Chicago  Synod.  The  Olive  Branch  Synod 


330  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


was  organized  in  1848  and  belonged  to  the  General 

Synod.  At  the  time  of  the  merger  it  embraced  forty- 

five  congregations  with  7,500  members, 
Indiana  Synod  ,  £  ,  Tr  ,  ,  , 

one-third  of  them  m  Kentucky  and 

Tennessee,  the  rest  in  Indiana.  On  June  24,  1920,  this 
Synod  united  with  twenty-five  congregations  and  2,500 
members  of  the  Chicago  Synod  to  form  the  Indiana 
Synod.  The  merger  includes  about  fifty  pastors  and 
seventy  congregations  with  about  10,000  confirmed 
members.  It  lies  south  of  Logansport,  Walton  and 
Portland,  Indiana,  and  stretches  southward  to  the 
southern  boundary  of  Tennessee.  It  has  eleven  congre¬ 
gations  in  Louisville  and  Jefferson  County,  Kentucky, 
and  one  other  congregation  in  southern  Kentucky,  and 
six  congregations  in  Tennessee.  The  rest  of  its  con¬ 
gregations  are  in  Indiana.  It  is  the  expectation  that 
eventually  the  congregations  in  the  State  of  Indiana 
but  now  belonging  to  the  Michigan  Synod  will  be  in¬ 
cluded  in  the  Indiana  Synod  also.  The  new  Synod 
has  large  plans  for  the  future  and  there  are  prospects 
of  rapid  growth,  particularly  in  southern  Indiana. 

That  same  year  the  tendency  towards  larger  units 
of  synodical  organization  brought  practical  results 
also  in  the  State  of  Ohio.  The  congregations  of  The 
United  Lutheran  Church  in  that  State  had  been  divided 
into  four  synods,  each  of  them  embracing  about  one- 

fourth  of  the  membership  on  that  ter- 
Ohi°  Synod  ritory.  Three  of  these  synods  had 
belonged  to  the  General  Synod,  the  East  Ohio  Synod 
(dating  from  1836),  the  Miami  Synod  (dating  from 
1844),  and  the  Wittenberg  Synod  (dating  from  1847). 


THE  MERGING  OF  DISTRICT  SYNODS 


331 


The  District  Synod  of  Ohio  (dating  from  1861)  had 
belonged  to  the  General  Council  and  had  congregations 
scattered  over  the  entire  State.  The  merger  of  these 
four  bodies  into  the  Ohio  Synod  of  TheUnited Lutheran 
Church  was  consummated  in  a  fine  spirit  of  harmony 
on  November  3,  1920.  The  Ohio  Synod  is  the  third 
largest  synod  in  the  general  body.  It  counts  about  two 
hundred  pastors  and  about  three  hundred  congrega¬ 
tions  with  over  53,000  confirmed  members.  It  elected 
a  salaried  president  and  organized  for  vigorous  prose¬ 
cution  of  its  educational  and  missionary  work. 

Early  in  1921  the  Lutherans  in  the  State  of  North 
Carolina  bearing  allegiance  to  The  United  Lutheran 
Church  formed  what  is  called  the  United  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Synod  of  North  Carolina.  For  a  hundred 
years  the  Lutheran  forces  in  that  State  had  been 
divided  into  two  synods.  The  North  Carolina  Synod 
had  been  organized  in  1803  but  in  1820 
the  Tennessee  Synod  was  formed  out  North  Carolina 

of  its  ranks  because  the  men  of  the 
Tennessee  Synod  took  a  decided  stand  for  a  distinctive 
Lutheran  faith  and  practice.  In  1886  both  of  these 
synods  united  with  other  synods  of  the  South  in  form¬ 
ing  the  United  Synod  of  the  South,  but  they  continued 
their  separate  synodical  existence  on  the  same  terri¬ 
tory  in  North  Carolina.  The  Tennessee  Synod  was  in¬ 
sistent  in  its  demand  for  sound  Lutheran  faith  and 
practice.  The  North  Carolina  Synod  became  one  of 
the  most  active  and  progressive  synods  in  the  Church, 
and  gradually  it  came  to  adhere  to  a  strict  confessional 
basis  and  practically  the  same  conception  of  Lutheran 


332  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


practice  as  that  held  by  the  Tennessee  Synod.  This 
fact,  together  with  the  impulse  to  larger  units  that 
came  with  the  organization  of  the  United  Lutheran 
Church,  led  the  two  synods  to  vote  for  a  merger  of 
their  interests.  The  merger  was  completed  on  March 
2,  1921,  and  the  separation  of  a  hundred  years  was 
ended.  The  merged  synod  elected  a  salaried  president 
for  a  term  of  five  years,  who  has  executive  charge  of 
the  one  hundred  and  thirteen  pastors,  the  two  hundred 
congregations,  and  the  27,000  confirmed  members  em¬ 
braced  in  the  organization. 

A  second  merger  of  synods  that  had  previously  be¬ 
longed  to  the  United  Synod  of  the  South  was  effected 
on  March  17,  1922.  The  Virginia  Synod  (organized 
1829)  united  with  the  Southwestern  Virginia  Synod 
(organized  1842)  and  the  Holston  Synod  (organized 
1860)  to  form  the  Lutheran  Synod  of  Virginia.  The 


Virginia  Synod  numbered  thirty-five 
pastors  with  a  membership  of  about 
7,000.  The  Southwestern  Virginia 


Virginia 

Synod 


Synod  included  twenty-two  pastors  and  a  membership 
of  5,000.  The  Holston  Synod  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
State  of  Tennessee  embraced  eleven  pastors  and  over 
2,000  members.  The  three  bodies  had  similar  interests 
not  only  in  location  but  also  in  education  and  missions. 
The  negotiations  looking  towards  a  merger  had  been 
going  on  for  several  years.  The  occasion  for  its  com¬ 
pletion  came  with  the  burning  of  Elizabeth  College  at 
Salem,  Virginia,  making  it  necessary  for  the  three 
synods  to  meet  and  determine  a  common  educational 
policy.  The  result  of  the  joint  meeting  was  the  organic 


THE  MERGING  OF  DISTRICT  SYNODS 


333 


union  of  the  three  synods,  forming  a  body  that  gives 
promise  of  great  usefulness  in  The  United  Lutheran 
Church. 

Thus  the  process  of  merging  district  synods  which 
has  been  going  on  during  the  past  four  years  has  given 
us  seven  synods  where  in  the  spring  of  1919  there  were 
seventeen.  The  movement  to  organize  or  reorganize 
synods  according  to  state  lines  or  other  geographical 
boundaries  goes  on.  It  tends  to  heal  the  wounds  in 
the  body  of  the  Church  that  have  been 

.  ,  -  .  ,  i  -i  •  Summary- 

Open  since  the  period  of  internal  dis¬ 
cord.  It  tends  towards  greater  efficiency  not  only  in 
the  different  districts  but  also  in  the  Church  at  large. 
It  makes  the  organization  of  The  United  Lutheran 
Church  a  positive  reality  with  the  promise  of  perma¬ 
nent  power.  It  is  part  of  the  logic  of  events,  an  inci¬ 
dent  to  the  spirit  of  the  times  in  an  age  of  larger  units. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 
THE  NATIONAL  LUTHERAN  COUNCIL 


After  the  formation  of  the  Norwegian  Lutheran 
Church  of  America  and  The  United  Lutheran  Church 
in  America,  the  next  logical  step  in  an  age  of  denomi¬ 
national  consolidation  was  the  formation  of  a  larger 


group  that  would  embrace  both  of 
these  and  yet  other  Lutheran  bodies. 
This  step  was  taken  in  the  organization 


Larger 

Co-operation 


of  the  National  Lutheran  Council.  This  new  body  was 
born  of  war-time  conditions.  It  was  the  direct  out¬ 
growth  of  the  National  Lutheran  Commission  for  Sol¬ 
diers’  and  Sailors’  Welfare. 

The  National  Lutheran  Commission  had  been  organ¬ 
ized  in  October,  1917,  as  an  emergency  organization 
to  meet  the  necessity  which  the  Church  felt  of  minis¬ 
tering  to  her  boys  in  the  service  of  their  country.  It 
was  the  first  general  organization  to  include  virtually 
all  Lutherans  of  America.  It  performed  a  vast  volume 


of  work  in  a  short  time  and  rendered  a 
splendid  service  to  the  Church  and  her 
men.  The  Commission  employed  one 
hundred  and  fifty  camp  pastors,  helped 


Work  of  the 

National 

Commission 


to  appoint  and  equip  seventy-eight  army  chaplains  and 
eleven  navy  chaplains,  sent  commissioners  to  France 
to  confer  with  the  French  Lutheran  Church  and  render 
all  possible  assistance  to  chaplains  and  service  men 
over  there,  maintained  four  service  houses  in  eastern 
cities,  labored  among  interned  aliens,  ministered  to  the 


334 


THE  NATIONAL  LUTHERAN  COUNCIL 


335 


sick  and  dying  in  about  sixty  hospitals,  vindicated  the 
loyalty  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country,  and 
rendered  a  great  variety  of  special  services  to  in¬ 
dividuals  and  families. 

The  various  Lutheran  Church  bodies,  all  except  the 
Synodical  Conference,  co-operated  with  the  utmost 
harmony  in  the  work  of  the  Commission.  When  the 
Commission  asked  for  $750,000  to  do  its  work,  the 
Church  responded  with  $1,360,000.  Now  the  Commis¬ 
sion  had  been  organized  solely  for  soldiers’  and  sailors’ 
welfare  and  its  funds  could  not  be 

used  for  any  other  purpose.  But  as  A  Wider  Field 

Disclosed 

the  Commission  was  the  only  general 
Lutheran  organization  and  as  it  had  a  fine  bal¬ 
ance  in  its  treasury  it  received  a  great  many 
requests  for  services  that  lay  outside  its  proper  sphere 
of  action.  The  war  brought  many  changes  and  in¬ 
creasing  needs.  Before  the  National  Commission  was 
a  year  old  an  urgent  need  was  felt  for  the  prosecution 
of  certain  forms  of  missionary  work  in  the  growing 
industrial  centers,  especially  in  the  munition  plants  and 
ship-building  centers.  Then,  too,  it  was  becoming 
evident  that  the  Lutheran  Churches  in  Europe  would 
stand  in  need  of  physical  and  moral  aid  in  the  recon¬ 
struction  period  that  would  follow  the  war.  Moreover, 
there  were  several  important  matters  of  common  in¬ 
terest  here  at  home  that  invited  common  action  by  our 
Church  organizations,  and  the  success  that  had  at¬ 
tended  the  work  of  the  Commission  led  many  to  believe 
that  the  sphere  of  practical  co-operation  could  be  en¬ 
larged  with  much  benefit  to  the  whole  Church.  The 


336  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Council 

Organized 


Norwegian  Lutherans  had  united,  the  union  of  Muhlen¬ 
berg  Lutheranism  was  assured,  and  all  the  signs  of 
the  times  pointed  to  further  denominational  consoli¬ 
dation. 

The  presidents  of  the  general  bodies  that  had  co¬ 
operated  in  the  National  Commission,  together  with 
one  or  more  representatives  from  each  of  those  bodies, 
held  a  preliminary  meeting  on  July  17,  1918,  and  after 
a  thorough  discussion  of  the  situation  resolved  to  ap¬ 
point  a  committee  to  formulate  plans  for  the  creation 

of  a  National  Council  of  Lutherans. 
The  National  The  situation  seemed  to  demand  imme¬ 
diate  action,  even  before  the  general 
bodies  could  meet  and  ratify  the  plans. 
So,  on  September  6,  1918,  in  Chicago  the  National 
Lutheran  Council  was  formally  organized  by  represen¬ 
tatives  appointed  by  the  presidents  of  the  general 
bodies  in  the  ratio  of  one  representative  for  every 
150,000  communicant  members  or  fraction  thereof. 
Its  officers  were:  President,  the  Rev.  Dr.  H.  G.  Stub, 
president  of  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Church  of  Amer¬ 
ica;  Vice-President,  the  Hon.  John  L.  Zimmerman,  of 
The  United  Lutheran  Church  in  America;  Secretary, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Lauritz  Larsen,  of  the  Norwegian  Luth¬ 
eran  Church  of  America;  Treasurer,  the  Hon.  E.  F. 
Eilert,  of  The  United  Lutheran  Church  in  America. 

The  objects  and  purposes  of  the  new  organization 

were  stated  as  follows:  1.  To  speak 
for  the  Lutheran  Church  and  give 
publicity  to  its  utterances  on  all  matters  which  require 
an  expression  of  the  common  conviction  and  sentiment 


Its  Objects 


< 


MUHLENBERG  BUILDING,  PHILADELPHIA 


THE  NATIONAL  LUTHERAN  COUNCIL 


337 


of  the  Church.  2.  To  be  the  representative  of  the  Luth¬ 
eran  Church  in  America  in  its  attitude  toward,  or  rela¬ 
tion  to,  organized  bodies  outside  of  itself.  3.  To  bring  to 
the  attention  of  the  Church  all  such  matters  as  require 
common  utterance  or  action.  4.  To  further  the  work 
of  recognized  agencies  of  the  Church  that  deal  with 
problems  arising  out  of  war  or  other  emergencies;  to 
co-ordinate,  harmonize  and  unify  their  activities;  and 
to  create  new  agencies  to  meet  circumstances  which 
require  common  action.  5.  To  co-ordinate  the  activi¬ 
ties  of  the  Church  and  its  agencies  for  the  solution 
of  new  problems  which  affect  the  religious  life  and 
consciousness  of  the  people,  e.  g.,  social,  economic  and 
educational  conditions.  6.  To  foster  true  Christian 
loyalty  to  the  State ;  and  to  labor  for  the  maintenance 
of  a  right  relation  between  Church  and  State  as  dis¬ 
tinct,  divine  institutions.  7.  To  promote  the  gathering 
and  publication  of  true  and  uniform  statistical  infor¬ 
mation  concerning  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America. 
The  Council  expressly  disclaims  the  right  to  interfere 
with  the  inner  life  of  its  constituent  bodies  or  in  any 
way  to  prejudice  their  confessional  basis. 

Each  body  co-operating  in  the  execution  of  the  pro¬ 
gram  of  the  Council  is  entitled  to  one  representative 
for  every  100,000  confirmed  members  or  one-third 
fraction  thereof.  The  Church  bodies  that  officially 
ratified  the  organization  of  the  Na¬ 
tional  Lutheran  Council  were  The  Its  Membership 
United  Lutheran  Church,  the  Norwegian  Lutheran 
Church,  the  Augustana  Synod,  the  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio, 
the  Iowa  Synod,  the  United  Danish  Church,  the  Luth- 
22 


338  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


eran  Free  Church,  the  Danish  Lutheran  Church,  the 
Icelandic  Synod  and  the  Buffalo  Synod;  but  the  Iowa 
Synod  withdrew  in  1920. 

Under  the  regulations  governing  the  Council  the 
administrative  work  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Presi¬ 
dent.  In  December,  1920,  the  office  of  Executive 
Secretary  was  abolished  and  Dr.  Larsen  was  elected 
President.  There  is  an  executive  committee  consisting 


of  the  officers  and  five  other  members. 
All  matters  for  action  or  consideration 


Its  Operation 


pass  through  the  office  of  the  President  and  are  sub¬ 
mitted  by  him  either  to  the  executive  committee  or  to 
some  special  committee  of  the  Council.  The  decisions 
of  the  Council  are  executed  through  the  office  of  the 
President.  This  plan  of  organization  makes  it  possible 
for  the  Council  to  act  quickly  and  effectively  whenever 
an  occasion  for  action  arises. 

The  new  organization  lost  no  time  in  beginning  its 
work.  Immediately  after  the  meeting  of  organization 
an  office  was  opened  in  Washington  and  the  Secretary 


of  the  Council  was  placed  in  charge. 
He  kept  in  constant  touch  with  the 
various  government  agencies  and  thus 


An  Office  in 
Washington 


the  Church  was  enabled  to  present  that  united  front 
which  was  so  necessary  to  secure  the  rights  belonging 
to  Lutherans  and  to  counteract  unjust  misunderstand¬ 
ings  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 

Another  serious  problem  immediately  facing  the 
Council  at  the  time  of  its  organization  arose  from 
various  war-time  industrial  communities.  The  great 
needs  in  these  communities  called  for  co-operation  in 


THE  NATIONAL  LUTHERAN  COUNCIL 


339 


work  of  a  home  mission  nature.  The  Council  therefore 
took  up  the  work  until  the  different  home  mission 
boards  would  be  able  to  undertake  it.  This  suggested 
that  some  action  should  be  secured  to 

prevent  for  the  future  the  duplication  Meeting  . 

Emergencies 

and  overlapping  of  home  mission 
efforts  on  the  part  of  the  various  Lutheran  bodies  in 
different  sections  of  our  country.  Accordingly,  the 
Council  brought  together  representatives  of  the  mis¬ 
sion  boards  who  planned  to  co-ordinate  their  work  and 
avoid  future  misunderstandings.  A  little  later,  March, 
1919,  the  Council  was  instrumental  in  bringing  to¬ 
gether  a  body  of  theologians,  representing  the  bodies 
belonging  to  the  Council,  to  discuss  questions  of  doc¬ 
trine  and  practice  which  had  hitherto  been  an  obstacle 
to  closer  co-operation  in  various  lines.  The  result  of 
this  general  conference  wTas  complete  agreement  on  all 
fundamental  questions  under  consideration  and  a 
declaration  that  the  way  is  open  for  complete  co¬ 
operation  among  these  bodies. 

Meanwhile  it  had  become  more  and  more  evident 
that  the  Lutheran  Church  should  have  some  central 
agency  of  publicity.  For  this  purpose  the  National 
Lutheran  Council  secured  the  Lutheran  Bureau  of  New 
York  City,  an  organization  that  had  grown  out  of  the 
celebration  of  the  Quadri-Centennial  in  1917  and 
through  the  unselfish  efforts  of  Luth¬ 
eran  laymen  had  been  developed  to  a 
high  state  of  efficiency.  Its  purpose 
is  to  gather  information  of  every  kind  concerning  the 
Lutheran  Church  at  home  and  abroad,  in  the  past  and 


The  Lutheran 
Bureau 


340  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


in  the  present,  and  to  distribute  this  information  as 
widely  as  possible  through  the  public  press  and  other¬ 
wise.  It  maintains  a  reference  library  and  informa¬ 
tion  bureau,  a  clipping  bureau  and  a  complete  news 
service  agency.  Through  the  application  of  modern 
publicity  methods  it  renders  an  increasingly  large  ser¬ 
vice  to  all  parts  of  the  Lutheran  Church  both  in 
America  and  in  Europe. 

The  Council  also  has  a  committee  on  statistics  whose 
purpose  it  is  to  gather  and  publish  true  and  uniform 
statistical  information  concerning  the  Lutheran 


Church  in  America.  Two  of  its  mem¬ 
bers  with  the  aid  of  others  have  pre¬ 
pared  and  published  the  “Lutheran 
World  Almanac  and  Annual  Encyclo- 


Lutheran 

World 

Almanac 


pedia”  for  1921  and  1922.  These  two  volumes  aggre¬ 
gate  nearly  fourteen  hundred  pages  of  most  valuable 
information  concerning  the  Lutheran  Church  the  world 
over.  Dr.  Carroll,  the  government  statistician  of  re¬ 
ligious  bodies,  calls  it  the  “most  ambitious  undertaking 
any  body  of  Christians  has,  perhaps,  yet  attempted 
in  this  country,  or,  for  that  matter,  in  any  country.” 

But  even  more  valuable  than  the  work  of  the  Na¬ 
tional  Lutheran  Council  for  the  Lutheran  Church  in 

America  is  the  work  that  it  has  done 
European  for  e  Lutheran  Church  in  other 


Relief 


parts  of  the  world.  The  work  of  re¬ 


construction  in  Europe  was  taken  up  as  early  as  Feb¬ 
ruary,  1919.  Five  commissioners  were  appointed  to 
go  to  Europe  and  ascertain  the  needs.  At  the  same 
time  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  Church  for  $500,000 


THE  NATIONAL  LUTHERAN  COUNCIL 


341 


for  European  relief  and  reconstruction.  The  appeal 
brought  more  than  $600,000.  But  the  reports  of  the 
commissioners  disclosed  much  greater  needs  than  had 
been  surmised.  In  October,  1919,  a  special  appeal  was 
made  for  clothing,  especially  for  Poland  and  the  Baltic 
provinces.  In  response  to  this  appeal  about  eight 
hundred  tons  of  clothing  were  received  and  distributed 
and  an  additional  $250,000  for  transportation,  medical 
and  other  supplies.  At  the  urgent  request  of  the  Coun¬ 
cil,  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  A.  Morehead,  one  of  the  European 
commissioners,  returned  to  Europe  in  February,  1920, 
to  administer  the  relief  work  in  person.  He  has  been 
the  standing  representative  of  the  Council  in  its 
European  work  assisted  at  times  by  other  special  com¬ 
missioners.  To  September,  1921,  the  Council  had  dis¬ 
tributed  more  than  a  million  and  a  quarter  dollars  in 
gifts  of  money  and  food  among  the  sufferers  in  seven¬ 
teen  European  countries.  In  addition  it  applied  gifts 
of  clothing  conservatively  estimated  to  be  worth  two 
and  a  half  millions  of  dollars.  All  this  has  been  done 
on  sound  principles  of  charity  and  with  a  business 
system  that  has  insured  the  utmost  economy  and  effi¬ 
ciency.  It  would  require  many  volumes  to  tell  the 
full  story  of  the  good  that  has  been  accomplished  by 
this  World  Service  of  the  National  Lutheran  Council 
in  strengthening  the  influence  and  work  of  the  Church, 
in  recovering  faith,  in  alleviating  suffering,  and  in 
saving  life. 

In  connection  with  this  reconstruction  work  the  dis¬ 
tressed  condition  of  Lutheran  foreign  missions 
throughout  the  world  was  constantly  brought  to  the 


342  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


attention  of  the  Council.  The  Council  was  not  author¬ 
ized  to  undertake  missionary  work  but  it  requested  the 
foreign  mission  boards  of  the  various  bodies  to  appoint 
representatives  to  meet  together  to  study  the  Lutheran 
world  situation  and  to  frame  some  common  policy. 
The  result  was  the  organization  in  January,  1920, 


of  the  Lutheran  Foreign  Missions 
Conference  of  America.  This  confer¬ 
ence  took  up  at  once  the  cause  of  the 
distressed  Lutheran  missions,  assur- 


Foreign 

Missions 

Conference 


ing  them  of  moral  support  and  securing  emergency 
appropriations  for  their  relief.  The  Missions  Confer¬ 
ence  then  asked  that  the  National  Council  include  in 
its  campaign  budget  for  1920  the  sum  of  $300,000  for 
the  support  of  these  missions.  This  was  done,  and 
more  than  $200,000  has  been  paid  toward  the  support 
of  Lutheran  foreign  missions  in  China,  Japan,  India 
and  Africa. 

From  this  brief  summary  of  the  activities  of  the 
National  Lutheran  Council  in  the  short  period  of  its 
existence  it  is  clear  that  there  is  a  wide  field  for  such 
an  organization  among  Lutherans  in  America.  It  was 
called  into  life  by  the  emergencies  of  war  times,  but 
it  is  maintained  by  the  needs  of  the  times  of  peace, 


for  it  answers  the  call  that  comes  in 
an  age  of  larger  units.  It  does  not 
attempt  to  assume  the  functions  of  a 


The  Council 
Not  Legislative 


super-synod  or  to  interfere  in  the  slightest  degree  with 
the  independence  of  action  on  the  part  of  its  constitu¬ 
ent  bodies.  It  only  seeks  to  co-ordinate  their  efforts  and 
to  serve  as  an  agency  through  which  they  can  work 


THE  NATIONAL  LUTHERAN  COUNCIL 


343 


together  at  tasks  for  which  no  one  of  them  alone  would 
be  adequate.  It  also  serves  as  a  medium  of  acquaint¬ 
ance  among  the  Lutheran  bodies  of  America,  enabling 
them  to  discuss  their  common  difficulties  and  to  dis¬ 
cover  the  extent  of  their  unity.  In  this  sense  it  does 
form  a  bond  of  union  among  the  bodies  in  its  member¬ 
ship  and  constitutes  the  largest  Lutheran  organization 
in  America,  embracing  fully  two-thirds  of  the  entire 
Lutheran  Church  in  this  country. 

But  even  more  important  than  the  expressed  ideals 
and  the  visible  activities  of  the 
National  Lutheran  Council  is  the  fact  ^  ^ewk 
that  out  of  its  work  there  has  grown 
a  fuller  national  Lutheran  consciousness  and  with  it 
a  new  Lutheran  world  consciousness. 


INDEX 


Adams,  J.  Q.,  74,  126. 

Adventism,  130. 

Africa,  143,  232,  251,  310,  342. 
Akron,  O.,  283ff. 

Alabama,  250. 

Alaska,  310. 

Albany,  N.  Y.,  26,  28,  48,  89,  238. 
Allegheny  Mts.,  84,  86. 

Alleghany  Synod,  139. 

American  Bible  Society,  82. 
American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions,  82,  142. 
American  Education  Society,  82 
American  Federation  of  Labor, 
206. 

American  Home  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety,  82. 

American  S.  S.,  Union,  82. 
American  Tract  Society,  82. 
Amsterdam,  26ff,  37. 

Andover,  Ill.,  239. 

Andren,  O.  C.  T.,  243,  246. 

Anne,  Queen,  31. 

Anti-Mo.  Brotherhood,  223,  306ff. 
Arends,  G.,  90. 

Arensius,  Bernhard,  29. 

Assn,  of  English  Churches,  251. 
Atchison,  Kans.,  228. 

Athens,  N.  Y.,  32. 

Atlantic  Ocean,  67,  115,  237. 
Augsburg,  41. 

Augsburg  Confession:  U.  L.  C. 
Const.,  332.  Swedes,  35  (See 
also  Augustana  Synod).  Pa. 
Min.,  96,  174.  N.  C.  Synod,  98. 
Schoeber’s  explanation,  101,  at 
organization  of  G.  S.,  108.  Po¬ 
sition  of  Schmucker,  118,  168. 
Criticism  of,  170,  173.  Hart- 
wick  Synod’s  172.  Franckean 
Synod’s  rejection,  173,  187. 

“Errors”  of,  175ff.  Melanch- 
thon  Synod’s  charges,  177.  N. 
Ill.,  Synod’s  position,  182,  244. 
Action  of  G.  S.  at  York,  188. 
Action  of  G.  C.,  193.  Progress 
in  acceptance,  276. 


Augustana,  223,  242. 

Augustana  Synod,  163,  183,  194, 
221,  223,  233,  235ff,  288,  328, 
337.  See  also  Norwegian  Augus¬ 
tana  Synod. 

Aureen,  jonas,  38. 

Austria,  41. 


Baltic  Provinces,  340. 

Baltimore,  Md.,  67,  146,  285. 
Baptists,  81,  133,  184,  218,  240. 
Battery  Park,  29. 

Baugher,  Dr.  H.  L.,  173. 
Bengston,  Andrew,  37. 
Berkenmeyer,  W.  C.,  32ff,  89. 
Berks  Co.,  Pa.,  67ff. 

Bishop  Hall  Colony,  Ill.,  236. 
Bjork,  Eric.,  38. 

Blue  Laws.  See  laws. 

Blue  Ridge  Mts.,  53. 

Boards:  Home  Mission,  140,  227. 
Ch.  Extension,  143,  227.  Mo. 
Synod,  258.  Colored  Mission, 
260.  G.  C.,  229,  288.  Miscel., 
299.  Foreign  Mission,  316,  342. 
U.  L.  C.,  323. 

Boltzius,  Martin,  42ff. 

Book  of  Concord.  See  Symbolical 
Books. 

Boston,  Mass.,  138,  144,  221. 
Brandt,  N.  O.,  307. 

Braunsdorf,  Saxony,  152. 

Brazil,  254,  256. 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  221. 

Brown,  J.  A.,  189,  191. 
Brunnholtz,  Peter,  58,  60,  263. 
Bryant,  W.  C.,  79. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  156,  238. 

Buffalo  Synod,  135,  156ff,  171, 
179,  338. 

Burlington,  la.,  228. 

Butler,  J.  G.,  269. 


California,  127,  149,  238. 
California  Synod,  227. 


345 


346  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Campanius,  John,  35. 

Canada,  89,  219,  228,  254,  256. 

Canada  Synod,  139,  194,  230. 

Canton,  O.,  144. 

Carlsson,  Erland,  241. 

Carolinas:  Salzburg  Settlements, 
44.  Emigration  to,  53.  Emigra¬ 
tion  from,  85.  See  also  N.  &  S. 
Carolina. 

Carroll,  Dr.  H.  K.,  340. 

Catechisms:  Campanius’  Indian, 
35,  37.  Quitman’s,  97.  Helm- 
staedt  or  N.  C.,  97.  Kunze’s  tr., 
115.  Luther’s,  174,  197,  274, 
276.  Swedish,  249. 

Catskill  Mts.,  32. 

Central  Canada  Synod,  229ff. 

Central  Ill.  Synod,  139,  195,  227, 
328. 

Central  Pa.  Synod,  140. 

Chambersburg,  Pa.,  91. 

Charles  XI,  37. 

Charleston,  S.  C.,  56,  62,  67,  290. 

Charlestown,  Mass.,  131. 

Chicago,  Ill.,  144,  183,  221,  238, 
241,  245ff,  336. 

Chicago  Synod,  229,  328ff. 

China,  233,  251,  257,  296,  309ff, 
342. 

Christ  Church,  N.  Y.,  33. 

Christina,  Queen,  34. 

Church  of  England,  22ff,  142. 

Church  Extension,  see  Miss.  So¬ 
cieties  and  Boards. 

Church  News  from  N.  A.,  161. 

Church  Union:  Pre-Revolution¬ 
ary  efforts,  55.  “Plan  of  Union,” 
80.  Unionism,  98ff,  215,  264. 
Schmucker’s  Plan,  169.  Den. 
Consolidation,  215. 

Civil  War,  126,  149,  183,  198,  218, 
220,  231. 

Claussen,  C.  L.,  162,  307. 

Colleges:  Bethany,  223.  Carth¬ 
age,  145,  227.  Concordia  (Nor¬ 
wegian),  224.  Augustana,  163, 
223,  246.  Elizabeth,  332.  F.  & 
M.  100,  116,  120.  Gettysburg, 
120,  144,  173,  181,  285.  Gusta- 
vus  Adolphus,  222.  Immanuel, 
260.  Luther,  224.  Martin 


Luther,  260.  Midland,  228.  of 
Mo.  Synod,  158,  256.  Muhlen¬ 
berg,  145.  Newberry,  144.  N. 
Carolina,  145.  Roanoke,  145. 
St.  Olaf,  224.  Thiel,  230.  Up- 
sala,  223.  Wagner,  230.  Wit¬ 
tenberg,  138,  140,  144,  171. 
See  also  Universities. 

Columbia,  S.  C.,  290. 

Columbus,  Christopher,  17. 

Columbus,  O.,  144,  146,  167. 

Concordia  Pub.  House,  256. 

Conferences:  Special  of  Pa.  Min., 
91,  107.  Western  of  N.  Y.,  145. 
Norwegian  Danish,  224ff.  Uni¬ 
ted  Scandinavian,  243ff.  Swe¬ 
dish,  248,  251. 

Confessions,  5,  97,  110.  Laxity, 
79,  83,  214.  Action  of  Pa.  Min., 
95,  174,  181,  197.  Basis  of  N.  C. 
Synod,  98.  Maryland  Synod 
“Abstract”,  173ff.  Definite 
Synodical  Platform,  175ff.  Ba¬ 
sis  of  U.  S.  South,  185.  Action 
of  G.  S.  at  York,  188.  Danish, 
224.  Mo.  Synod,  259.  Power, 
262.  Conservation,  276ff.  Nor¬ 
wegian  Basis,  310.  U.  L.  C. 
Basis,  322.  See  also  Augsburg 
Confession  and  Symbolical 
Books. 

Congregationalists,  80,  132. 

Congress,  74,  76,  127,  204,  210. 

Connecticut,  80. 

Conservative  Reformation  and 
its  Theology,  286. 

Consistory  of  Hanover,  90. 

Constitutions:  Church.  St.  Mi¬ 
chael’s  Model,  63.  G.  C.  Model, 
194.  Carlsson’s,  241.  Norelius’ 
243.  Krauth’s,  286. 

Constitutions:  Synodical,  Pa. 

Min.,  95.  G.  S.,  108,  185,  277ff. 
Model  for  District  Synods,  110, 
169.  Augustana  Synod,  249, 
252.  U.  S.  South,  288ff.  U.  L. 
C.,  320,  322. 

Constitution,  U.  S.,  73,  75. 

Cooper,  J.  F.,  79. 

Council  of  Church  Boards  of  Edu¬ 
cation,  298. 


INDEX 


347 


Council  of  Women  for  Home  Mis¬ 
sions,  298. 

Cuba,  296. 

Cumberland  Valley,  68,  86. 

Danes,  221,  224.  See  also  Scandi¬ 
navians. 

Danish  Luth.  Church  in  America, 
224,  338. 

Day,  David  A.,  232. 

Deaconesses,  144,  309. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  18. 
Decorah,  la.,  224. 

Definite  Synodical  Platform,  175ff, 
244. 

Delaware,  24. 

Delaware  River,  5,  28,  34,  41,  45ff, 
59,  235. 

Demme,  Dr.  C.  R.,  265. 

Denmark,  32,  220,  224. 
Dietrichsen,  J.  W.,  162,  307. 
Disciples  of  Christ,  80. 

District  Synod  of  Ohio,  139,  194, 
331. 

Dresden,  Germany,  151. 

Dutch,  24ff,  36. 

Dylander,  John,  39. 

Earltown,  46. 

East  Ohio  Synod,  139,  181,  330. 
Easton,  Pa.,  59. 

East  Pa.  Synod,  140,  181. 
Ebenezer,  Ga.,  41ff,  56,  62,  67. 
Ecclesia  Plantanda,  57. 
Ecumenical  Methodist  Confer¬ 
ence,  215. 

Eielsen,  Elling,  306. 

Eielsen  Synod,  162,  310. 

Eliot,  John,  36. 

Elk  River,  38. 

Endress,  Christian,  117. 

England,  26,  31,  53,  75ff,  87,  142. 
English  Synod  of  Mo.,  272. 
English  Synod  of  Ohio,  194. 
Episcopalians,  38ff,  81,  89,  99ff, 
103,  110,  132,  240,  264,  301. 
Episcopate,  24. 

Erfurt,  156. 

Erie  Canal,  85,  238. 

Esbjorn,  L.  P.,  162,  182,  239ff. 
Europe,  6,  2 Iff,  41,  54,  60,  63,  69, 


88,  94,  164,  203,  219,  302,  335, 
340. 

Evangelical  Alliance,  169,  176. 

Evangelical  Review.  See  Luth¬ 
eran  Quarterly. 

Evangelische  Magazin,  145.  194, 

Fabritius,  Jacob,  28,  36. 

Falckner,  Dan’l,  31,  47. 

Falckner,  Justus,  30,  32,  38,  47. 

Falckner’s  Swamp,  46. 

Federal  Council  of  Churches, 
298ff. 

Federalists,  75,  77. 

Federation  of  Women’s  Boards  of 
Foreign  Missions,  298. 

First  German  Luth.  Cong.,  in 
America,  48. 

First  Luth.  Ch.  in  America,  35. 

First  Luth.  Minister  in  America, 
34. 

Fliedner,  T.  J.,  144. 

Florida,  238,  250. 

Foreign  Missions  Conference  of 
N.  A.,  297,  342. 

Fort  Wayne,  IncJ.,  157,  159,  185, 
190ff,  195,  199. 

“Four  Points,”  281ff. 

France,  75,  95,  324. 

Francke,  Hermann,  42,  50,  53,  56, 
69,  95. 

Franckean  Synod,  173,  181,  187. 

Fraternal  Appeal  to  the  American 
Churches,  169. 

Frederick,  Md.,  62,  68,  117,  197. 

Free  Luth.  Diets,  313. 

Fremont,  Neb.,  228. 

French  and  Indian  War,  63. 

Fritschel,  Gottfried,  158. 

Fritschel,  Sigmund,  158. 

Galesburg,  Ill.,  241ff,  283. 

Galesburg  Rule,  283ff. 

Geissenhainer,  Dr.  F.  W.,  117. 

General  Assembly,  80,  132. 

General  Assn.,  80. 

General  Conferences  of  Lutherans, 
314. 

General  Council,  143,  185ff,  226, 
247,  252,  259,  267,  277ff,  286ff, 
312ff. 


348  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


General  Synod:  Organization  of, 
107.  Disruption  of,  93,  140, 
160ff,  167,  173,  181,  182ff,  226ff, 
252,  263,  266ff,  276ff,  312ff. 

General  Synod  of  Confederate 
States.  See  United  Synod  of  the 
South. 

General  War-Time  Commission, 
300. 

Genet,  Minister,  75. 

Georgia,  41ff,  45. 

Georgia  Synod,  140,  288. 

German  Land  Co.,  47. 

German  Nebraska  Synod,  227ff. 
See  also  Nebraska  Synod. 

Germantown,  Pa.,  46ff,  57ff,  102, 
144. 

Germany,  3,  32,  45fF,  88,  90,  101, 
117,  135,  149,  152ff,  157,  160, 
167,  170,  179,  218. 

Gettysburg,  Pa.,  120,  144. 

Gloria  Dei  Church,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  38. 

Goering,  Jacob,  117. 

Goetwasser,  J.  E.,  27,  35. 

Grabau,  J.  A.  A.,  156. 

Great  Awakening,  82. 

Great  Lakes,  219,  238. 

Greensboro,  N.  C.,  260. 

Greenville,  Pa.,  230. 

Greenwald,  Dr.  E.  E.,  146. 

Gronau,  I.  C.,  42ff. 

Grosshennersdorf,  55. 

Gulf  of  Mexico,  151. 

Gunn,  Walter,  142. 

Guntur,  India,  142,  231,  316ff. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  34. 

Gutzlaff  of  China,  141. 

Hagerstown,  Md.,  68,  107. 

Hague  Tribunal,  296. 

Halle,  59,  63,  69,  89,  95,  97,  142. 
Fellow  laborers  of  Muhlenberg, 
33.  Instructors  for  Salzburgers, 
42.  Pa.  Appeal,  50ff.  Or¬ 
phanages,  55. 

Halle  Reports,  58,  64,  69. 

Hamburg,  32ff. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  75ff. 

Handschuh,  J.  F.,  59ff,  263. 

Hankow,  257. 


Hanover,  Germany,  55,  90. 

Hanover,  Pa.,  59. 

Harding,  W.  G.,  18. 

Harpster,  J.  H.,  232. 

Harrisburg,  Pa.,  68,  117. 

Hartford,  Conn.,  77. 

Hartwig,  J.  C.,  60,  116. 

Hartwick  Synod,  172,  180,  266. 

Hasselquist,  T.  N.,  223,  241ff. 

Hauges  Synod,  162,  306ff. 

Hawaii,  295. 

Hayne,  Robt.,  126. 

Hazelius,  E.  L.,  116. 

Hedstrom,  Jonas,  238,  240. 

Hedstrom,  Olof,  238,  240. 

Helmuth,  J.  H.  C.,  69,  117,  120, 
169. 

Henkel,  A.  J.,  48. 

Henkel,  Paul,  86,  90,  92,  99,  117. 
Sons  of,  93,  134,  167. 

Heyer,  C.  F.,  87,  134,  138,  142, 
232. 

History  of  New  Sweden  by  Acre- 
lius,  39. 

Holland,  26. 

Holman  Lecture,  277. 

Holston  Synod,  140,  181,  289,  332. 

Holy  Trinity  Church,  Wilmington, 
38. 

Home  Mission  Arbitration  Com¬ 
mission,  317. 

Home  Missions  Council,  298. 

Homes  for  the  Aged:  Muhlen¬ 
berg’s  Project,  62,  Mo.  Synod, 
258.  Norwegian,  309. 

Homiletical  Magazine,  257. 

Hospices,  Mo.  Synod,  258. 

Hospitals:  Founded  by  Dr.  Pas- 
savant,  144.  Swedish,  249. 
Mo.  Synod,  258. 

Hudson  River,  26,  30ff,  41,  45,  62, 
67,  238. 

Hymnals.  See  Liturgy. 

Icelandic  Synod,  338. 

Idaho,  250. 

Illinois,  84ff,  138,  162,  221,  226. 
236,  238ff,  328. 

Illinois  Synod  (German),  194ff, 
229,  259,  281. 

Illinois  Synod,  (U.  L.  C.),  328. 


INDEX 


349 


Immanuel  Church,  Chicago,  241, 
245. 

Immigrant  Missions,  250,  309. 

India,  55,  141ff,  231,  233,  250ff, 
257,  316,  342. 

Indiana,  84ff,  138ff,  226,  238,  241, 
245,  330. 

Indiana  Synod,  229,  329ff. 

Indians,  American,  21,  68,  84,  116, 
250,  310.  Catechism,  35.  N.  T. 
36.  Salzburger  Missions,  42. 
Assistance  to  Weiser,  46. 

Inter-Church  World  Movement, 
300. 

Interstate  Commerce  Commis¬ 
sion,  204,  210. 

Iowa,  221,  238,  241,  245. 

Iowa  Synod,  (U.  L.  C.),  139.  See 
also  Synod  of  Iowa. 

Irving,  Washington,  79. 

Jacksonville,  Ill.,  144. 

Jacobs,  H.  E.,  315. 

James  II,  29. 

Jamestown,  Va.,  17. 

Janson,  Erik,  236. 

Jansonites,  236. 

Japan,  232,  316,  342. 

Jefferson  Co.,  Ky.,  330. 

Jefferson  Prairie,  Wis.,  245. 

Jefferson,  Thos.,  75,  111. 

Jerusalem  Church,  Ga.,  44. 

Jesuits,  81. 

Joint  Com.  of  the  Quadri-Centen- 
nial  of  the  Reformation,  319ff. 

Joint  Synod  of  Ohio,  86,  91ff,  107, 
113,  134,  144,  146,  180,  194,  233, 
259,  267,  272,  281ff,  290,  337. 

Kaiserswerth,  Germany,  144. 

Kansas,  127,  246. 

Kansas  Synod,  139,  227. 

Keller,  Ezra,  138. 

Kenilworth,  N.  J.,  223. 

Kentucky,  85ff,  131,  138,  3'30. 

King  of  Sweden,  236. 

Knoll,  M.  C.,  32. 

Knubel,  F.  H.,  321. 

Kocherthal,  Joshua,  31,  67. 

Koester,  H.  B.,  45. 

Kraft,  Valentine,  56. 


Krauth,  C.  Philip,  167,  190,  285. 

Krauth,  C.  Porterfield,  110,  146, 
152,  168,  177,  189ff,  285ff. 

Kunze,  J.  C.  69,  89,  96,  99,  101, 
115  264. 

Kurtz,  Benj.,  119,  152,  170ff. 

Kurtz,  J.  N.,  58,  69. 

Kurtz,  Nicholas,  60. 

Kyushu,  Isle,  232. 

Lake  Erie,  219. 

Lake  Michigan,  219. 

Lake  Ontario,  219. 

Lake  Superior,  246. 

Lampbrecht,  J.  G.,  86. 

Lancaster,  O.,  87. 

Lancaster,  Pa.,  46,  59,  61,  100, 
103,  116ff,  183. 

Lancaster  Co.,  Pa.,  68. 

Language  Question,  33,  39,  102ff, 
181,  287. 

Larsen,  Lauritz,  336,  338. 

Latin  America,  295. 

Law:  Blue  Laws,  22.  Cases  from 
disruption  of  G.  S.,  196. 

Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement, 
318 

Lay  “Trusteeism,”  81,  131. 

League  of  Nations,  297,  302. 

Lebanon  Co.,  Pa.,  48,  67. 

Lebanon  Valley,  46. 

Lehigh  Co.,  Pa.,  59. 

Lemke,  H.  H.,  42. 

Lehre  und  Wehre,  157,  257. 

Lexington  Co.,  S.  C.,  67. 

Liberia,  Africa,  143,  232. 

Lindahl,  S.  P.  A.,  252. 

Lindsborg,  Kans.,  223. 

Lintner,  Ga.,  266. 

Literature,  American,  79. 

Liturgy:  Muhlenberg’s,  60ff,  100. 
American  hymnal  and  liturgy 
issued,  64.  Quitman’s,  97. 
Seiler’s,  98.  “Common  Hymn 
Book,”  100.  Kunze’s  Hymnal, 
115.  Prussian  uniform,  156. 
Denunciation  of,  170.  Pa.  Min., 
181,  198.  G.  C.,  194.  Swedish, 
240,  249.  Development  of, 
262ff,  313ff,  U.  L.  C.,  322. 

Lochman,  Geo.,  117. 


350  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Lock,  Lars.,  36. 

Loehe,  Wm.  157ff,  161,  180. 
Loeser,  J.  J.,  58. 

Logansport,  Ind.,  330. 

London,  Eng.,  32ff,  37,  50. 

Long  Island,  30,  230. 

Lord’s  Day.  See  Sunday. 

Louis  XIV,  31. 

Louisiana  Territory,  76. 

Louisville,  Ky.,  330. 

Lutge,  Anton,  86. 

Luther,  Martin,  104,  152ff,  315. 
Lutheran,  The,  146. 

Lutheran  Brethren,  310. 

Lutheran  Brotherhood,  251,  318. 
Lutheran  Bureau,  339. 
Lutheraner,  Der,  154,  160ff,  257. 
Lutheraneren,  224. 

Lutheran  Free  Church,  338. 
Lutheran  Historical  Society,  318. 
Lutheran  Intelligencer,  145. 
Lutheran  Laymen’s  League,  258. 
Lutheran  Magazine,  145. 
Lutheran  and  Missionary,  286. 
Lutheran  Observer,  146,  170,  176. 
Lutheran  Quarterly,  146,  161,  167. 
Lutheran  Social  Union,  317. 
Lutheran  Standard,  146,  167. 
Lutheran  Witness,  257. 
Lutherischer  Zionsbote,  228. 
Luther  League,  251,  317. 

Luther  Society,  317. 

Madagascar,  233,  309ff. 

Madison  Co.,  Va.,  67. 

Maine,  131. 

Manhattan  Island,  26. 

Manitoba  Synod,  229ff. 

Mann,  W.  J.,  189. 

Marshall,  Justice,  76. 
Martinsburg,  W.  Va.,  285. 
Maryland,  38,  47,  49,  68,  85,  92, 
114,  177. 

Maryland  Synod,  94,  145ff,  173, 
176,  181. 

Maryland  and  Virginia  Synod,  92, 
107,  119. 

Massachusetts,  237,  247. 
Mechling,  J.,  86. 

Melanchthon  Synod,  176,  181, 
183,  186,  245. 


Membership:  Lutheran,  U.  L. 
C.,3,321.  Amsterdam,  26.  Pa., 
47,  66.  1825,  88,  1870,  150. 

G.  S.  in  1860,  182.  U.  S.  of 
South,  185.  Growth  to  1910, 
218.  Scandinavian,  222ff,  245, 
309ff.  Native  Indian,  232.  Mo. 
Synod,  254.  Wisconsin  Synod, 
260. 

Membership,  General,  211. 

Mercersburg  Movement,  133. 

Methodists,  81,  104,  133,  166, 
184,  218,  240. 

Miami  Synod,  139,  330. 

Michigan,  221,  238,  247. 

Michigan  Synod,  (German),  194, 
229,  281,  329ff. 

Michigan  Synod  (U.  L.  C.),  329. 

Miller,  R.  J.,  90. 

Miller,  E.  C.,  321. 

Millerism,  130. 

Milwaukee,  Wis.,  144,  221. 

Ministerial  Acts:  First  American 
64,  1832,  266.  Common,  271, 
274,  313,  323. 

Minneapolis,  Minn.,  306. 

Minnesota,  143,  221,  228ff,  238, 
241,  245ff. 

Minnesota  Synod,  194,  229,  259, 
281 

Missionary,  The,  146,  168. 

Missionary  Societies.  Home,  134, 
139ff.  Central,  137,  141.  For¬ 
eign,  141.  Church,  142.  N.  Ger¬ 
man,  142.  Church  Extension, 
143.  Swedish,  239,  248.  China, 
251.  W.  H.  and  F.  M.,  251,  318. 
See  also  Boards. 

Mississippi  River,  151,  219,  221, 

226.  _ 

Mississippi  Synod,  140. 

Mississippi  Valley,  78,  84,  130, 
138,  147,  149. 

Missouri,  134,  152ff,  176. 

Missouri  Synod,  134,  154ff,  162, 
171,  179,  194,  233,  254ff,  281, 
290,  321. 

Mohawk  River,  30,  67. 

Moline,  Illinois,  243 . 

Monocacy  River,  59. 

Monroe,  James,  76ff,  111,  125. 


INDEX 


351 


Monroe  Doctrine,  111. 

Montana,  250. 

Montgomery  Co.,  Pa.,  47,  68. 

Moorhead,  Minn.,  224. 

Morality,  18ff,  54. 

Moravians,  50,  59,  100ft,  116,  141. 

Morehead,  J.  A.,  334ff. 

Mormonism,  130,  250. 

Morris,  J.  G.,  146,  313. 

Mt.  Pleasant,  N.  C.,  145. 

Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y.,  144. 

Mt.  Vernon,  Va.,  74. 

Muckenhaupt,  S.,  86. 

Muhlenberg,  Fred,  89. 

Muhlenberg,  Henry  M.,  66,  89, 
94ff,  101,  111,  115,  152,  180,  239, 
263,  270,  288,  312.  Plans  of,  4. 
Berkenmeyer  and,  33.  Wrangel 
and,  39.  Salzburgers,  43. 
Father-in-law  of,  46.  Prepara¬ 
tion  of  Stoever  and  Schulz  for 
ordination,  49ff.  Sketch  of  his 
work,  53-65  inc. 

Muhlenberg,  H.  E.  103,  117. 

Muhlenberg,  Peter,  103. 

Natl.  Luth.  Commission,  252,  321, 
334ff. 

Natl.  Luth.  Council,  252,  334ff. 

Nebraska,  247. 

Nebraska  Synod,  139,  227.  See 
also  German  Nebraska  Synod. 

Neuendettelsau,  Bavaria,  157. 

Neve,  J.  L.,  315. 

Nevin,  Dr.  J.  W.,  133. 

New  Amsterdam,  26ff,  36ff. 

New  Berne,  N.  C.,  67. 

Newberry,  S.  C.,  290. 

Newburgh,  32. 

New  England,  5,  19ff,  76ff,  221. 

New  Hanover,  4,  6ff,  56. 

New  Holland,  46,  48. 

New  Jersey,  24,  31,  38,  48,  62,  67. 

New  Market,  Va.,  86,  120. 

New  Netherlands,  26. 

New  Orleans,  La.,  260. 

New  York  City,  74,  115,  117, 
119ff,  131,  221,  231,  238,  317, 
321,  339. 

New  York  Ministerium,  88,  90,  96, 
99,  103,  106ff,  111,  116,  120, 


160,  172,  180,  194,  264ff,  276ff, 
283 

New  York  State,  24ff,  45ff,  60,  62, 
67,  84,  89,  99,  110,  113,  116, 
156,  237ff,  245,  247. 

New  York  Synod,  195,  321. 

New  Sweden,  34ff. 

Niles  Register,  79. 

Norelius,  Eric.,  243. 

North  American  Review,  79. 

North  Carolina,  67ff,  89ff,  97,  107, 
110,  114,  116,  331,  See  also  Car- 
olinas. 

North  Carolina  Synod,  93,  106, 
134,  288.  Organization,  90. 
Confessional  basis,  98.  Union 
movements  in,  101.  at  Organi¬ 
zation  of  G.  S.,  107.  Withdrawal 
from  G.  S.,  185.  Merger,  331. 

North  Dakota^  221,  229. 

Northfield,  Minn.,  224. 

Northern  Illinois  Synod,  139,  162, 
175,  182,  221,  243  ft,  328. 

Northern  Indiana  Synod,  139,  329. 

Northwest  Synod,  229. 

Norway,  220,  307. 

Norwegian  Augustana  Synod,  221, 
223. 

Norwegian  Danish  Conference, 
223 ft',  306. 

Norwegian  Lutheran  Church,  162, 
308ff,334ff. 

Norwegian  Lutheran  Free  Church, 
310. 

Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod,  223, 
306ff. 

Norwegian  Synod,  260. 

Norwegians,  162,  180,  182,  221ff, 
233,  243ff,  290,  305ff,  See  also 
Scandinavians. 

Nova  Scotia  Synod,  229. 

Nyberg,  Pastor,  59. 

Officer,  Morris,  143,  232. 

Oglethorpe,  Gen.,  41ff. 

Ohio,  84ff,  91,  96,  114,  138,  176, 
226,  330. 

Ohio  River,  84ff,  219. 

Ohio  Synod  (U.  L.  C.),  92,  331. 
See  also  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio. 

“Old  Lutherans,”  156. 


352  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Old  Swedes  Church,  Wilmington, 
38. 

Olive  Branch  Synod,  139,  329. 
Olsson,  O.,  252. 

Orangeburg,  S.  C.,  67. 

Orphanages:  Salzburger,  42. 

Halle,  55.  Zelienople,  144.  Mt. 
Vernon,  N.  Y.,  144.  German¬ 
town,  Pa.,  144.  Boston,  Mass., 

144.  Swedish,  249.  Mo.  Synod, 
258.  Norwegian,  309. 

Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y.,  116. 

Ottensen,  J.  A.,  307. 

Oxford  Movement,  132. 

Pacific  Coast,  226,  229ff,  250. 
Pacific  Synod,  229. 

Palamcotta,  India,  141. 

Palatinate,  31,  46,  67. 

Panama  Canal,  296. 
Pan-Presbyterian  Alliance,  215. 
Passavant,  W.  A.,  144,  146,  162, 
168,  228,  230. 

Paxton,  Ill.,  246. 

Penn,  Wm.,  5,  34,  37,  45ff. 
Pennsylvania,  5ff,  23ff,  30,  33,  45ff, 
53,  67ff,  75,  78,  84ff,  89ff,  96ff, 
100,  103,  138,  245. 

Pa.  Ministerium,  116,  119ff,  142, 

145,  160,  181,  263ff,  276ff,  321. 
Organization,  60.  Revivifica¬ 
tion,  63.  Mission  Work,  86,  138, 
Division  of,  90ff.  Constitution, 
95.  Union  Movements  in,  99. 
Change  of  name,  102.  Organi¬ 
zation  of  G.  S.  106ff.  Return  to 
G.  S.  174.  Organization  of  G. 
C.  &  Mt.  Airy  Sem.,  185ff. 

Penobscot  River,  26. 

Perkasie,  59. 

Perry  Co.,  Mo.,  151. 

Philadelphia,  35ff,  38,  45ff,  54,  56, 
58,  60,  68,  91,  115,  117,  120,  131, 
189,  285,  301,  317,  319. 
Philippines,  295. 

Pine  Lake,  Wis.,  236. 

Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  138,  144,  146, 
285,  327. 

Pittsburgh  Synod,  139,  144,  175, 
194,  196,  228ff,  327ff. 

Poland,  341. 


“Plan  of  Pinion, ”  80,  132. 

Pope,  The,  180. 

Population:  In  Colonial  Times, 
18.  .  Ga.,  42.  1750,  53.  Growth 
during  Muhlenberg’s  life,  66. 
Growth  in  Ohio,  Ind.  and  Ill., 
85.  Growth  of  U.  S.  to  1910, 
203. 

Portland,  Ind.,  330. 

Portland,  Ore.,  230. 

Porto  Rico,  250,  295. 

Potomac  River,  183. 

Presbyterians,  80,  104,  132,  166, 
184,  218,  301. 

Preus,  307. 

Printz,  Andrew,  37. 

Printz,  John,  35. 

Providence,  Pa.,  46. 

Prussia,  156. 

Prussian  Union,  135,  156,  161,  167, 
170. 

Pulpit  and  Altar  Fellowship,  282ff, 
290. 

Puritans,  23,  166. 

Quadri-Centennial  of  the  Refor¬ 
mation,  308,  319ff,  339. 

Quitman,  Dr.,  96,  100,  264. 

Rabenhorst,  Christian,  43ff. 

Rajahmundry,  India,  142,  232, 
317. 

Raritan  River,  59. 

Reading,  Pa.,  193ff. 

Rebenach,  J.  C.,  86. 

Red  Cross,  258. 

Reformed  Church,  133,  141,  156, 
264.  Holland,  26.  New  Nether¬ 
lands,  27,  Swedes,  35.  Great 
Awakening,  82.  Union  Move¬ 
ments  with  Lutherans,  lOOff, 
113,  116.  Opposition  of  G.  S., 
1()9. 

Reformers,  Lutheran,  5,  273. 

Reis,  J.  F.,  33. 

Remensnyder,  J.  B.,  316. 

Revivals:  19th  Cent.,  80.  Cum¬ 
berland  Valley,  86.  Great 
Awakening,  82. 

Revolutionary  War,  18,  23,  40, 
42ff,  64,  66,  69,  73ff,  80,  87,  90, 
95,  115. 


INDEX 


353 


Reynolds,  W.  M.,  181. 

Rhinebeck,  N.  Y.,  116. 

Rhine  River,  31. 

Rhode  Island,  23. 

Rochester,  N.  Y.,  230. 

Rock  Island,  Ill.,  222,  246. 

Rocky  Mts.,  226. 

Rocky  Mt.  Synod,  227. 

Roman  Catholic  Church,  81,  131, 

211. 

Rudman,  Andrew,  30,  38. 

Saga,  Japan,  232. 

St.  John's  Church,  Dresden,  151. 
St.  John’s  Church,  Phila.,  103. 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  151,  159,  180,  220, 
256,  307. 

St.  Mark’s  Church,  Phila.,  285. 

St.  Michael's  Church,  Phila., 
Dedication,  60.  Constitution, 
63.  Split  of,  102. 

St.  Paul,  Minn.,  220,  224,  308ff. 
St.  Peter,  Minn.,  223. 

Salem,  Ya.,  332. 

Salzburgers,  41ff,  56,  67. 

Sandin,  Provost,  60. 

Saskatoon,  Canada,  230. 

Saucon,  59. 

Sandel,  Andrew,  38. 

Savannah,  Ga.,  41. 

Savannah  River,  26. 

Saxony,  55,  134,  151ft,  254ft. 
Scandinavians,  135,  149,  162,  21S, 
283.  See  also  Danes,  Norwe¬ 
gians  and  Swedes. 

Schaeffer,  C.  F.,  189. 

Schaeffer,  David  F.,  117. 
Schaeffer,  F.  C.,  119. 

Schaeffer,  F.  D.,  117. 

Schaff,  Dr.  133. 

Schaum,  John  FI.,  58. 

Scherer,  M.  G.  G.,  321. 

Schmauk,  T.  E.,  287. 

Schmid,  Empiricus,  56. 

Schmidt’s  “Dogmatic  Theology’,” 
167,  178. 

Schmidt,  H.  C.,  232. 

Schmidt,  J.  A.,  307. 

Schmidt,  J.  F.,  117. 

Schmucker,  B.  M.,  266,  268. 

23 


Schmucker,  S.  S.,  113,  llSff,  152, 
168ff,  188,  190,  268. 

Schober,  G.,  101. 

Schoharie  Valley,  32,  67. 

Schools:  Muhlenberg's,  57.  Pa¬ 
rochial,  61.  Mo.  Synod,  155, 
255.  Scandinavian,  222,  249, 
See  also  Colleges,  Universities 
and  Seminaries. 

Schultze,  C.  E.,  69. 

Schulz,  John  C.,  49. 

Schuylkill  River,  36. 

Seamen's  Friend  Society,  S2. 

Seamen’s  Mission,  250,  309. 

Seattle,  Wash.,  230. 

Secret  Societies,  282,  290. 

Seiler,  G.  F.,  98. 

Seiss,  J.  A.,  313. 

Selinsgrove,  Pa.,  145. 

Seminaries:  Andover,  118.  Au- 
gustana,  223,  246.  Breklum, 
228.  Chicago  (Maywood),  230. 
Columbia,  S.  C.,  290.  Dubu¬ 
que,  158.  Fort  Wayne,  157. 
Gettysburg,  109ff,  115ff,  139, 
144,  '152,  168ff,  189ff,  276,  278, 
285.  Hart  wick,  116,  139.  Joint 
of  Luths.  and  Refs.  101.  Joint 
Synod,  144.  Kropp,  230.  Mar¬ 
tin  Luther,  228.  Mo.  Svnod, 
159,  162,  180,  256,  307.  Mt. 
Ain;,  145,  189ff,  198,  286ff. 
Lexington,  144.  Muhlenberg’s 
project,  62,  69.  Norwegian,  224, 
309.  Pacific,  230.  Princeton, 
See  Universities.  Saskatoon, 
230.  Susquehanna,  145.  Water¬ 
loo,  Ont.,  230.  Western,  228. 
Wittenberg,  140,  144. 

Semler  of  Halle,  97. 

Severinghaus,  J.  D.,  228. 

Shenandoah  Valley,  68. 

Slovak  Synod,  260. 

Sommer,  Peter,  33. 

South  America,  296. 

South  Carolina,  67,  90,  126.  See 
also  Carolinas. 

South  Carolina  Synod,  93,  144, 
185,  288,  321. 

South  Dakota,  221,  229. 

Southern  Ill.,  Synod,  328. 


354  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 


South  Mountain,  68. 

Southwest  Va.  Svnod,  140,  288, 
332. 

Spanish  War,  295. 

Spener,  Philip,  95. 

Spiritualism,  130. 

Sprecher,  Samuel,  1 70ff,  191. 

Springer,  Chas.  37. 

Springfield,  Ill.,  159,  163,  183, 
244 IT,  256. 

Springfield,  O.,  171. 

Standard  Oil  Co.,  205. 

State-Churchism,  22,  40,  164,  224, 
239  ft". 

Stauch,  John  86ff,  92. 

Steck,  J.  M.,  86ff. 

Steck,  M.  J.,  87. 

Stephan,  Martin,  151ff,  156. 

Stoevers,  The,  48. 

Storch,  T.,  90. 

Storr  and  Flatt  “Biblical  Theolo¬ 

gy,”  168. 

Stub,  H.  G.,  307,  309,  336. 

Stuyvesant,  Peter,  27ff,  36. 

Sunday,  Compulsory  Observance, 
22.  Denial  of  Divine  obliga¬ 
tion,  175. 

Sunday  School  Council  of  Evan¬ 
gelical  Denominations,  298. 

Susquehanna  River,  46ff,  62,  68, 
93,  181. 

Susquehanna  Synod,  140. 

Sward,  P.  J.,  252. 

Sweden,  162,  220,  233,  235ff. 

Swedes,  29ff,  34ff,  47,  57,  60,  63, 
162,  182,  221ff,  235ff.  See  also 
Scandinavians. 

Swensson,  Carl,  252. 

Symbolical  Books,  96,  153,  158, 
167,  174,  186,  193,  197,  279ff, 
310,  322.  See  also  Augsburg 
Confession  and  Confessions. 

Synodical  Conference,  134,  155, 
'  159,  180,  223,  229,  259,  307,  322, 
335. 

Synodical  Council,  249. 

Svnod  of  Iowa  and  other  States, 
157ff,  171,  179ff,  194,  233,  281ff, 
290,  338. 

Synods:  See  under  separate  head¬ 
ings. 


Tamils,  257. 

Taxes,  Religious,  22. 

Telugus,  231,  250. 

Tercentenary  of  the  Reformation, 
101,  106. 

Tennessee,  90,  116,  330,  332. 

Tennessee  Synod,  93,  107,  134, 
167,  181,  289,  331. 

Texas,  127,  228,  238. 

Texas  Synod,  140,  175,  185. 

Theological  Quarterly,  257. 

Tinicum  Island,  35ff. 

Tokyo,  Japan,  233. 

Torkillus,  Reorus,  34ff. 

Tranberg,  Rev.  57. 

Trappe,  The,  46ff,  56. 

Treutlen,  John  A.,  43. 

Triebner,  C.  F.,  43ff. 

Trinity  Church,  N.  V.,  32. 

Trinity  Church,  St.  Louis,  154. 

Tulpehocken,  46,  59ff. 

Uhl,  L.  L.,  232. 

Unangst,  E.,  232. 

Unitarianism,  118,  130. 

United  Danish  Luth.  Church,  224, 
337. 

United  Lutheran,  The,  224. 

United  Lutheran  Church,  92,  141, 
252,  312ff,  334ff. 

United  Norwegian  Church,  223, 
306ff. 

United  States  Bank,  75ff,  126. 

United  Synod  of  the  South,  184, 
232,  252,  271ff,  288ff,  312ff. 

Universalism,  130. 

Universities:  Capitol,  145.  Co¬ 
lumbia,  115.  Goettingen,  55, 
159.  Harvard,  118.  Illinois 
State,  145,  163,  182,  244.  Leip- 
sic,  152,  159.  Oxford,  132. 
Princeton,  118, 120, 169.  Penna., 
115,  120,  286.  Rationalism 
in  German,  95.  Susquehanna, 
145.  See  also  Halle  and  Colleges. 

Unonius,  Gustaf,  236,  240. 

Upper  Milford,  59. 

Urlsperger,  Samuel,  41ff. 

Velthusen,  Dr.  J.  C.,  98. 

Vermont,  247. 


INDEX 


355 


Utah,  229. 

Yigera,  J.  F.,  58. 

Virginia,  19,  46,  48ff,  68,  85ff, 
90ff,  114,  138,  145,  332.  Salz¬ 
burg  settlements  in,  44,  67. 
Virginia  Synod,  93,  185,  288,  332. 

Walther,  C.  F.  W.,  152ff,  180,  254, 
259,  290,  307. 

Walton,  Ind.,  330. 

W  ar  of  1812,  76. 

Wartburg  Synod,  227ff. 
Washington,  D.  C.,  140,  269,  338. 
Washington,  Geo.,  18,  74ff,  111. 
Washington  State,  229. 

Waterloo,  Ont.,  230. 

Ways  and  Means  Com.,  of  Mer¬ 
ger,  (U.  L.  C.),  320ff. 

Webster,  Daniel,  126. 

W’eidner,  R.  F.,  230. 

Weiser,  Anna  M.,  59. 

W’eiser,  Conrad,  46. 

Wesley,  John  and  Chas.  42. 
Whitfield,  Geo.  42. 

WTest  Pa.  Synod,  93,  114,  145. 
Western  Va.  Synod,  185. 
Wrhitehouse,  Bishop,  240. 

W7icaco,  36. 

William  of  Orange,  29. 


Wilmington,  Del.,  34ff,  57. 
Winchester,  Va.,  285. 

Wisconsin,  162,  221,  229,  236,  238. 
Wisconsin  Synod,  194,  229,  259, 
281 

Wittenberg  Synod,  139,  330. 

Wrolf,  E.  J.,  315. 

Wrorld  Almanac,  340. 
World-Baptist  Congress,  215. 
World  Conference  on  Faith  and 
Order,  301. 

W'orld  War,  258,  295ff. 

Wrangel,  C.  M.,  39,  63. 
Wuertemberg,  Emigrants  from, 
43,  160. 

WYneken,  F.  C.  D.,  160. 


X.  Y.  Z.  Affairs,  75. 


Y.  M.  &.  W.  C.  A’s,  297. 

York,  Pa.,  59,  117,  185,  187ff,  195, 
268. 

York  Co.,  Pa.,  68. 

Zetskoorn,  Abelius,  28. 
Ziegenhagen,  F.  M.,  50. 
Zimmerman,  J.  L.,  336. 
Zinzendorf,  Count,  50,  56. 


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